Ain Soph Aur
by dragonliege242
Summary: Ichigo was tired. He wanted nothing more than to rest. But, try as he might, forces just keep conspiring to drag him into a world he wants no part of.
1. Prologue

Ichigo had no idea what to expect when he opened his eyes.

The world had gone to shit in the aftermath of the Soul King's death at the hands of Yhwach, the barriers between Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and the human world breaking down and causing the 3 dimensions to flood into each other.

Natural disasters on a scale never seen before began to ravage the earth, decimating the human population with every passing second.

In just a few scant hours, humanity would be annihilated, and the balance of the soul cycle irreparably damaged.

The only hope lay with Urahara Kisuke and the Royal Guard, who seemed to have some way to restore the Soul King and the balance between the dimensions, toiling away in what remained of the Soul King's Palace.

But all of it was for naught if nothing was done about Yhwach, who was hellbent on destroying everything that the Soul King had wrought.

That mission had fallen to Ichigo, who retreated into a meditative trance to obtain the pinnacle of his Shinigami powers, the Final Getsuga Tensho, once more.

The first attempt back during the war with Aizen had taken him 3 months in the Dangai, and this second, while much faster, had still taken far too much time.

If it wasn't for his comrades' sacrifice, he had no doubt that Yhwach would not have allowed him to live past the first minute in Jinzen.

Uryu, Chad, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Byakuya, Toshiro, his own father and Uryu's too, and even Aizen, who had been released from Muken to do battle with their mutual enemy.

Each of them had fallen defending him, stalling for time so that he could achieve his ultimate power.

Their sacrifice was not in vain. Ichigo had emerged, in a transcendent state that vastly surpassed what he had achieved two years before now that he fully understood the nature of his powers.

But even that would have been futile before Yhwach's godlike powers, the result of him assimilating the Soul King's very existence, essentially turning him into the new Soul King, in other words, a God.

Would have, had it not been for the final trump card that Uryu had passed to him with the last ounce of his strength before passing.

The Still Silver, the special metal material that manifested in the hearts of Quincies that had their powers stolen by Yhwach's Auswahlen, harvested from the bodies of their respective mothers by their fathers and forged into an arrowhead.

The metal had the ability to negate Yhwach's powers for a brief moment by coming into contact with the Quincy King's blood.

Invisible to even Yhwach's Almighty that allowed him to observe the past, present and all possible futures, Ichigo had managed to stab it into him right before cutting him down with Mugetsu.

If it had worked as advertised, there was no way even Yhwach could have survived being struck by the ethereal blade of pitch black.

Ichigo had expected to see Yhwach's body hit the ground in the next moment.

Instead, the world around them seemed to shatter into prismatic fragments before he and the dying Yhwach were forcibly pulled by an unseen force to who knows where.

His eyes had shut instinctively, his consciousness dimming, and only when it returned and he was sure that he was no longer moving against his will did he dare to open them.

His first thought was that he had no idea where the hell he was.

This was certainly not the air above Karakura, where he had been battling the Quincy King.

Instead of a shattered landscape ravaged by violent winds and ceaseless rain, he was greeted by a stagnant grey world.

And he meant stagnant. There was no sign of movement whatsoever, not even the smallest hint of a breeze.

It was as though time itself had come to a halt.

The second thought that occurred to him was astonishing.

He still had his powers.

That shouldn't be possible.

The cost of using the Final Getsuga Tensho was the loss of his Shinigami powers. That had not changed since the first time he used it.

It was possible to regain them afterwards, but the fact that he would lose them initially was immutable.

Or it was supposed to be.

But he had them nonetheless.

His body teemed with absolute power.

In fact, it was even greater than it had been when he fought Yhwach.

Almost overwhelmingly so.

"What is this…?" He muttered to himself.

He had not been expecting an answer, but he got one anyway.

"Ah, finally lucid, I see." A gentle voice spoke just next to him, almost causing him to jump out of his skin and reach for a sword that he had briefly forgotten was no longer there.

Ichigo spun to face the speaker, and came face to face with…a man?

He wasn't sure if that was enough to describe the individual he was looking at.

He had gentle features, not unlike that of Ukitake, younger but not less weary, the look of someone who had seen the horrors the world had to offer, with blond tresses and orbs of molten gold for eyes.

He wore nothing but a white robe on his fairly muscular body, and yet exuded not even the smallest hint of indecency,

Instead, all Ichigo could feel was a sense of timelessness and unearthliness, something completely alien to humans.

It was just like being in the presence of the Soul King.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked, not able to bring himself to use his usual abrasive and demanding tone on this person.

"Hm…I could tell you, but I'm not quite sure you would believe me." The being answered, a hint of amusement lighting his eyes for a moment.

Ichigo highly doubted that. With everything he had already been through, there really wasn't much left that could surprise him.

"Try me."

"Very well then. I go by many names and titles. YHWH, Elohim, Adonai, but I believe the one you would be most familiar with would be God."

"…"

Out of all the answers that Ichigo thought he would receive, that had not been one of them.

"God." Ichigo repeated in a tone that was not quite disbelieving, but not entirely accepting either.

"Yes, the Almighty, the Father of Creation, the big man upstairs, as humans these days call me." The man said without missing a beat.

This was…not entirely unbelievable, he supposed.

If a God like the Soul King existed, it wasn't that strange for the Biblical God to be real too.

He certainly gave off an aura of divinity that lent credence to his claim.

But, if God existed, why was the world going to hell in a handbasket once the Soul King croaked?

And for him to be talking to the capital G-O-D himself…

"Am I dead then?"

"Oh no, far from it. If you were dead, you would not be speaking to me. Or even my Angels, seeing as you are not a believer. You are very much alive, which is more than I can say for the one over there."

Ichigo looked in the direction that God was nodding in and tensed.

Lying on the ground not far from the two of them was unmistakably Yhwach.

But, he was not moving in the slightest, indistinguishable from the stagnant landscape around them.

He was undoubtedly dead.

"Quite the odd one. I sensed a power not unlike my own coming from him, ready to burst forth from his corpse. And your own considerable power of course, dissipating from your being. That would have been rather inconvenient for me if they ran rampant in this place, so I forced them back into you."

Ichigo blinked.

"Um…what?"

"I forced your powers and his into your body." God repeated unhesitatingly.

It explained why Ichigo had not lost his powers, but experienced a drastic increase instead.

But, his own powers, on top of Yhwach's, not to mention the Soul King's…

Wait, didn't that basically mean that he was the new Soul King?

"Oh crap." Ichigo cursed as he made that realization.

But…that might prove to be a good thing.

If the Soul King's powers were still intact, he could use them to fix the mess that Yhwach had made and put everything back the way it was.

Now if only he could get back…

"Hey, if you're God, then could you send me back to earth? The place has kinda gone to hell and I have to go fix it. No, actually, it might be better if you send me to the Soul King's Palace."

"I'm afraid that's quite impossible for me. Even with my powers, sending you to a different reality is beyond me."

"…A different reality?"

That was phrased rather strangely. Kisuke usually used dimensions to describe the various realms.

"Yes. I'm certain that you and the one over there are not native to this reality. Your words just confirmed it. As far as I can tell, our earth is perfectly fine. And I have never heard of this Soul King, or his palace, and I am aware of every other deity in this reality."

Ichigo froze, the implications of God's words finally hitting him.

This wasn't another dimension like Soul Society or Hueco Mundo, metaphysically separate yet connected to the human world.

If God's words were to be trusted, then this was a whole different reality.

He had some knowledge of multiverse theory, which enabled him to visualize the gravity of the situation.

If the Soul King's Palace did not exist, then Soul Society and Hueco Mundo probably didn't either, which meant that Shinigami and Hollows, and probably Quincies, didn't exist.

Hell, Karakura might not be in this reality either, or anyone he knew for that matter.

Ichigo's vision swam, and it felt like he might have collapsed if a firm hand had not clasped his shoulder at that moment.

"Do not lose heart, young man. There may still be a way for you to return home."

Hope surged in his chest and Ichigo looked back at God.

"Tell me."

"Before that, I'm afraid I require your assistance with a certain matter."

God faced forward with a steely gaze, deeply contrasting his warm demeanour up until that point.

Ichigo looked in the same direction and did a double take, forcing himself to swallow down his sudden fear.

What lay before him could only be described as an 'abomination'.

A beast of the utmost darkness, covered in a random mess of black fur, scales and feathers, far more massive than anything Ichigo had ever seen, vastly towering over even the likes of Yammy Llargo in his Resurreccion.

Each of its six black limbs, four forelimbs and two legs, extending from the vaguely simian torso ended in twisted, gnarled talons that were no doubt just as deadly as even the strongest Zanpakuto.

Six different wings, all different-sized yet scaled to the beast's absolutely monstrous stature, sprouted from various places on its back, a feathered one reminiscent of a bird, one that looked like a bat's, an even thicker one that probably had more muscles in it than Ichigo had in his entire body, and three distinct insectile appendages, each equally intimidating.

Seven tails, the most eye-catching and terrifying of them being the scaled-up scorpion stinger, sprang from the same location on the back end of the torso, each of differing length and shape.

And to top it all off were the seven long necks extending from the front end, each supporting a different head.

The first head was vaguely human, possessing the basic shape and a human nose. But the similarities ended there. Where its eye should have been instead were jagged holes, as though someone had cut into a canvas with a serrated blade. Its mouth was non-existent, and the lower jaw was covered in red vein-like lines. And most strikingly of all were the tree branch-like horns growing from its temples, covered in flames.

The second was a twisted, horrific mix between a human and a dragon. The feminine facial features, beautiful on its own, was ruined by its mouth, which extended far past the head and went down to the midpoint of the neck it was supported on, the long slits covered in teeth. Matted locks of silver-blue hair trailed down, crowned by two gargantuan horns.

The third head was shaped like a Hannya mask from Japanese Noh theatre, except the traditional two short horns were replaced with black, red-veined bull horns, each tip adorned with a Higanbana, the sorrowful flower the Japanese had associated with death.

The fourth was perhaps the most normal looking of the bunch, taking the shape of a wolf's head, its snout hanging open and revealing the massive blade-like teeth. Yet, despite its normalcy in comparison to the rest, Ichigo felt the greatest chill of fear run down his spine when he laid his eyes upon it, making it no less terrifying than the rest.

The fifth was grotesque in an almost artistic fashion, as though some demented artist had painted a hundred faces onto a blank head, each portraying a different human in suffering. And yet, one, right in the middle of the head, stood out from the rest in great contrast, bearing an expression of complete tranquillity amidst the sea of agony.

The sixth head took the shape of a dragon's skull, and nothing more than that. No scales, skin, muscle, blood vessels, nerves or organs in sight, it resembled undead monsters in various video games that he had played in the past, except this one was real and much more terrifying than some clusters of pixels on a tv screen.

And the seventh and final head was probably the most aberrant among them, simply because its features were completely indiscernible. In the split seconds he had taken to mentally register it as being that of a dragon, it had physically morphed into a lion's head. And just as quickly, into that of a bird, and then a bat, then a youthful black-haired human and back to a dragon. The only feature on it that remained constant was the quartet of horns, ugly, twisted things that were even spaced around its crown.

This…beast that lay before him, seemingly asleep, kept in that state by the countless golden bindings of God's creation, was unlike anything he had seen before.

Not even the Hollows, fallen human souls that had taken the shape of monsters, or that horrifying visage that Yhwach had gained upon absorbing the Soul King could hope to compare to the sheer terror that this thing inspired with its mere presence.

"What…is that…!?" Ichigo choked out, barely able to get a sound out with how tightly clenched his throat felt.

"Hm…well, being a non-believer, I suppose you've never read the Book of Revelations? Does the name 'Trihexa' or 'the Imperial Beast of the Apocalypse' ring any bells?"

" _Not really."_ Ichigo privately thought.

But he could tell just by looking at it that this thing was serious bad news.

But, just how bad he could only imagine…

"Then what if I were to tell you that this was a creature capable of ending all of creation, my world and yours, and countless more?"

…Okay, that was considerably worse than he thought.

Still, he didn't have much trouble believing it.

Yhwach had the power to destroy Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and the human world with a mere thought, and this thing had just as much, if not even more power than even the Quincy King.

"I request your aid in defeating this creature and ending the threat it poses once and for all. Once this is over, I vow that I will do all in my power to return you to your world." God spoke with a firm tone.

Still, it did not sound like a demand.

He probably wouldn't begrudge him if he chose to walk away right now.

But, Ichigo couldn't.

His way home depended on it.

And even if he could, he wouldn't.

It was in his nature to protect even those he did not know, and this creature was not something he would wish upon his worst enemies.

"I sure hope you have a plan, because I don't think this thing is gonna go down without one hell of a fight, and no offense, but you don't seem as powerful as me."

The omnipotent being before him may possess abilities too numerous to count, but in terms of sheer power alone, Ichigo could sense that his outclassed God's by a mile.

That probably had something to do with the exhaustion he could detect a mile away from the deity, likely from the sheer strain of keeping the beast asleep for as long as he had, but even if he were at full power, Ichigo was almost completely confident that he would still be superior.

Showing no sign of indignation at Ichigo's words, God nodded.

"True, I may not be as strong as you or the beast, but the millenia I have spent sealing and observing it has allowed me to cobble together some semblance of a plan. With your immense power, I believe we have a good chance of success."

"I'm listening."

"Very well. When I first encountered this creature, I had presumed it to be a single lifeform, much like you have, I'm sure. However, my observations over time have led me to conclude that it is not a single entity, but seven different beings amalgamated into the abomination we see now, their individual might compounding to give it the overwhelming power that we sense. Were we to fight it in its current state, we would likely be dragged into a long and arduous battle, the outcome of which even I cannot predict. But if we can separate it into its seven components and eliminate each of them, then…"

Ichigo nodded, understanding the gist of the plan.

"Makes sense. But how are we going to pull them apart? It doesn't seem to be something as simple as cutting one head away from the rest."

"Indeed, it is not. Their fusion goes far beyond the physical and into the realm of the metaphysical. But, as I said, my time spent observing it has granted me a depth of understanding that no one else can boast. I am confident that I will be able to remove one from the rest. When I do, I ask that you eliminate it while I keep the other six suppressed. Once you have, I will separate the second creature, and so on until all seven are defeated."

"Got it. I'd like to say that we should get started, but…" Ichigo trailed off, looking down at his hand.

His empty hand, devoid of the familiar and comforting weight of his weapons.

His Zanpakuto had vanished when he had assumed Mugetsu's form, and though his powers were intact, they had not returned.

Likely because he was still in Mugetsu, judging by the long black hair that fell around his face.

And he had no idea how to manifest them, or if it was even possible in the first place.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's just…I fight at my best when I wield a sword. While I can fight without one, I'm not confident I'll be able to give it my 100%."

"I see. In that case, please take this."

God stretched a hand out to him, and in it, a magnificent golden blade appeared, its hilt presented to him.

It looked more ornate than practical, but there was no denying the power that rolled off of it.

"My personal blade, Deus Xiphos, the Sword of God. She will surely serve you well."

"A-Are you sure? This blade must mean a lot to you…"

"She does indeed. Still, I implore to take her. With my role in this battle, I will not be in a position to wield her. And if it can raise our chances of victory, the so be it." God spoke with conviction.

Ichigo gingerly reached out to the finely crafted blade and grasped it carefully, almost afraid that his mere touch would tarnish it.

And as his grip slowly tightened around the handle, he was not surprised to feel a small surge of dissatisfaction from the sword.

He had no idea if it would be on the same level as a Zanpakuto, but he had already expected that the personal weapon of God himself would possess some level of sentience.

And that it would not be happy to be used by someone other than its true wielder.

Still, beneath the discontent, he could feel a strong resolve.

The blade was willing to put aside its unhappiness at the situation and give it its all in order to slay this beast.

What could he do in the face of two great convictions but reply with his own.

He swung the blade once and then again, testing its weight.

Perfect, was the only word that could describe it.

"Alright then, let's do this."

Ichigo turned to face the beast, preparing for the first of seven long battles.

"By the way, not to jinx us, but on the off chance that we fail, what will happen?"

"We will almost certainly be killed, and Trihexa will be free to wreak havoc upon my world. The inhabitants will be powerless to stop it, and once it razes everything there is to the ground, it will likely move onto another world." The deity replied grimly.

But even when confronted with those hefty consequences, Ichigo felt no fear.

"Well then, I guess we just have to make sure we succeed, don't we?"

* * *

God could only watch in awe as the young man he had entrusted a herculean task to overcame the odds before his very eyes.

A single swing of his own golden blade, and an arm of the first of seven beasts was severed cleanly, joining the other on the ground, along with a horn and no small amounts of severed flesh, prompting a pained roar from it and frenzied movement as it attempted to strike down its opponent.

This first beast was one he was intimately familiar with.

After all, it was one of his many creations.

Goetia, the being he had created to act as the conduit between King Solomon and the 72 Demons and their counterparts, the 72 Angels, recorded in the Lesser Key of Solomon.

As a result, it possessed the abilities of all 72 Demons, the ancestors of the 72 Pillars, and 72 Angels, the first and strongest of his Heavenly Host.

Shortly after Solomon's death, he had made to retrieve Goetia before it could fall into the hands of the wise king's far more incompetent children and ruin everything he had wrought.

However, it had already vanished and to his shock, had been masked from even his omnipotence that allowed him to see every corner of the world.

It had been from tracking it down that God had come across the Imperial Beast of the Apocalypse to begin with.

Daring to take his eyes off the intense battle, God turned to regard Trihexa, now down to 6 heads with Goetia's removal.

On the surface, it did not seem to have made a dent in the mighty beast's power, but God knew better.

The results would make themselves clear when Goetia was defeated.

The other 6 beasts, he could admit he was not as familiar with.

He could certainly name them all, and after doing battle with them once before so long ago, could identify their abilities.

A crash off to the side drew his attention, and to his amazement, Goetia had fallen, its mangled body covered in numerous gashes, and the black taint of Trihexa's corruptive influence slowly washing off.

His partner in this endeavour was walking back to him, with only light scratches on his person and ruffled clothing as proof of the fierce battle he had fought.

God raised a hand to him, preparing to heal even those minor injuries to ensure that he would be in top condition, but he was stopped.

"Save your energy for the seal. I got this. Let's keep going." He said with so much confidence that even God believed him.

Channelling his divine power, he slowly undid the conceptual bonds between the second beast and the rest of Trihexa.

The half-human, half-draconic head woke as it was separated from the rest and gained a body of its own, releasing a thunderous roar from its far too big maws.

"Be careful, this one is far more dangerous than the last."

And he meant it.

For this second beast was Tiamat, the Chaos Karma, the Mother of Dragons, the Mesopotamian goddess of primordial chaos that had helped in shaping the world from the eldritch, chaotic essence of the Dimensional Gap.

Or rather, it was Tiamat's divinity, lost after her death at the hands of her own subjects and her subsequent reincarnation into her current, lesser draconic existence.

Lost, and found by Trihexa, who had devoured and corrupted it, giving rise to this ugly entity, a mockery of Tiamat's original divine beauty.

But twisted as it was, its power had the same basis as Tiamat's, allowing it to release a corruptive mud that allowed her to completely rewrite and twist any being unfortunate to come into contact with it into her personal puppets.

He was immune to it as he had found out in the last battle he had with Trihexa, but he wasn't so sure about his companion.

"Your next opponent will release a substance that will subsume you should it touch you, so I would advise you to steer clear of it."

"Is that so? Well, that won't be a problem. After all…"

Tiamat roared and charged at the young man as she was removed form the seal, the black mud that God was cautioning him about already surging towards them at an alarming speed.

"…Speed is my specialty."

And God lost sight of him completely.

His eyes searched the battlefield briefly, before Tiamat was blasted backwards, as though struck by a great force.

He found his companion in the spot previously occupied by the corrupted goddess's hulking body, a foot extended in her direction as though he had just kicked.

And that was exactly what had happened, God realized.

He had kicked Tiamat with so much force that the giant goddess had been thrown far off into the distance.

Once again, God was awed by his companion's sheer physical prowess.

It gave him hope that this plan may actually succeed.

God had not been anywhere near as confident as he had assured his companion he was.

He alone had faced Trihexa millennia ago, and he alone knew just how unfathomably powerful the beast was.

Even a part of it would still possess immense power, far greater than anyone outside of the World's Top 10 could exhibit.

He could not sense the full extent of his companion's power either, but that was exactly why he wasn't sure he would be able to succeed.

But, now he was certain.

This young man, Kurosaki Ichigo, was the one he had been waiting for.

Just as the Dream had said.

Unbeknownst to Ichigo, he had not been ripped from his world and arrived here by coincidence.

The Dragon of Dreams, the unassailable guardian of the Dimensional Gap itself, the Great Red, had torn him from his reality and brought him here.

To help change the bleak future that it and God had foreseen.

In the not too distant future, God would be weakened from maintaining the seal that his very existence would be compromised, rendering him unable to intervene when the son of Lucifer would stumble across the sealed beast and foolishly release it, believing wrongly that he would be able to control it.

Trihexa would rampage across the world, killing many innocents and laying waste to all realms, despite the various factions' coordinated efforts to stop it.

They would win, and seal Triheza once more, but at great cost.

God knew he could not allow such a future to come to pass, and Great Red agreed.

And so the Ultimate Dragon searched the countless worlds birth from and separated by the Dimensional Gap for a warrior, a hero with the power and the heart to face the beast down and end it.

And it found one.

A young man who rose against endless tides of despair, seizing victory again and again, and inspiring hope in others.

It ripped him from the point in time when his power would be at its greatest and brought him here to fulfil this arduous task.

God felt no small amount of guilt for tearing such a fine young man away from his world without his consent, more so for lying about it, but if given the choice, he would do it again and again.

For the sake of this world's peace.

God regarded the 5 beasts remaining.

The third was Mara, the demonic entity that had attempted to seduce and corrupt the Buddha, utilizing impossibly realistic illusions to tempt its opponents.

The fourth was the Beast of Gaia, a creature Gaia had spawned to slaughter the humans who had polluted her beloved Earth, but had been devoured by Trihexa before it could even begin its mission.

The fifth was the Contents of Pandora's Pithos, containing every evil and every sin known to man. And yet in the middle of all that chaos was Elpis, a tiny glimmer of hope. They too had been swallowed by Trihexa soon after the foolish creation of the Olympians had released them onto the world.

The sixth was the one least known to God, a being of extra-terrestrial origins, Angolmois. It had arrived on earth millenia ago, bent on devouring the planet and all life on it, but vanished soon afterwards.

And the last was the original, the real Trihexa itself. Already powerful on its own, it had devoured the aforementioned 6 to increase its might exponentially, putting it on par with beings like the Infinite Dragon God and the Dragon of Dreams, something thought to have been impossible.

Each was a terrifying opponent, certainly not ones that could be easily fought one after another.

Yet, God believed that Ichigo could do it.

He was, after all, the one who made the impossible possible.

And when it was all over…he would finally be able to rest in peace.

* * *

Ichigo breathed heavily, trying to regulate his breathing.

He stood over the carcass of the seventh and final beast, his last opponent.

It had proved vicious and desperate, trying to consume him to make up for the power it had lost with the defeat of the other 6, and the wounds that he had slowly accumulated from the previous battles not helping much, but no longer having to maintain the seal, God aided him in the final battle, healing his injuries and pelting the beast with powerful blasts of divine power.

The beast finally fell when Ichigo beheaded it, pouring a good chunk of his reserves into Deus Xiphos to produce a Getsuga-like wave of energy, ending the threat known as Trihexa.

"My eternal gratitude, young man. With this, my world is finally safe."

God smiled tiredly as he approached him.

"I'd say no problem, but that would be a lie. That was a pain in the ass." Ichigo half-heartedly complained.

"Indeed, a laborious endeavour it was." The deity chuckled.

"Now, about what we agreed on…"

"Of course."

God waved a hand, and a prismatic rift appeared in front of them.

"This is a gateway to the Dimensional Gap. It is connected to countless worlds, yours likely among them, but it is also a place of primordial energy, teeming with so much chaos that ordinary beings would have no hope of surviving even a moment within. However, with your immense power, you should feel only minor discomfort, if any at all. Once you are there, search for a red dragon flying around the realm. It will point you in the right direction." God explained.

And then, he faltered, and would have collapsed if Ichigo had not reacted and caught him in time.

"Hey, are you okay!?"

No sooner than those words had left his mouth did Ichigo see God's legs slowly dissolving to golden particles and dispersing.

Deus Xiphos shuddered in his hand, a wave of alarm and sorrow emerging from it.

"What is…!?"

"It appears…that I have reached my limit. I strained my divine essence too far keeping Trihexa sealed as long as I did. This is the result. I am fading."

"Isn't there a way to stop it!?"

"Fret not. I had foreseen that I would likely end up like this. I have long made peace with it. Now that Trihexa has finally been vanquished, the world is no longer in danger. It has endured without me for millennia, and will continue to do so even after I vanish."

Like his fallen son would say in the near future, 'the world continues to turn even without God'.

"But…!"

"It has been a long and tiresome journey for me. Now, all I wish to do is sleep. Please, allow me to have that. Honor this wish, even if it goes against your beliefs." God smiled wanly, the dissipation beginning to reach his torso.

"But before I vanish, I have one final reward for you, as thanks for helping me when you did not need to."

God pressed a finger against Ichigo's forehead before he could react, and with a flash of golden light, _something_ fundamentally changed within him.

"What did you…?"

"My abilities and knowledge…I pass them to you. You may do with them as you see fit."

What God had passed to him was seamlessly infused into his very being, becoming a concrete part of him as his Shinigami, Hollow and Quincy powers were.

"I…I don't want…"

"Yes, perhaps this power is nothing more than a heavy burden upon your shoulders. Forgive me, for it is the best I can give you as I am now. And I must burden you more with one final request. My dear Deus Xiphos…won't you take her with you? She would be so terribly lonely once I am gone, but I believe you will take good care of her."

Sorrow now poured from the golden blade in torrents, and Ichigo could basically hear it wailing, pleading with its wielder.

God lightly tapped its hilt with a fading hand.

"This is farewell, my beloved partner. I know you do not wish for a parting like this, but I cannot bear to have you follow me in my demise. I implore you to put up with my selfishness one last time. This young man is your wielder now. Obey him, as you would me." He spoke softly and coaxingly.

Ichigo felt very much like a unwanted third wheel, intruding on the last words of a father to his daughter.

The sorrow emanating from Deus Xiphos grew no weaker, but now a sense of resignation lay beneath it, reluctantly accepting the inevitable end of its wielder.

The dissipation had now reached God's neck, leaving nothing but a head.

"Ah, just what awaits a God after death? Even with my foresight, I cannot find an answer. For the first time in a long time, I am filled with nothing but curiosity. Though my journey in this world ends here, a new one is about to begin!"

God's eyes were alight with a childlike sense of wonder, and for a moment, Ichigo felt glad for him.

And then, they were gone, along with the rest of him, leaving nothing but Ichigo, Deus Xiphos, the cooling carcasses of the seven beasts and the rift to the Dimensional Gap behind.

Ichigo looked down at the blade of God, now his.

"Well, I guess it's you and me now. I'm definitely no God, but I hope we can get along."

Ichigo felt a very small, almost undetectable sense of acceptance from the blade and smiled slightly.

They just might be able to make this work.

"Then, let's go. I need to find a way back and fix that damn mess that madman left behind."

Ichigo put a foot forward and stepped into the rift.

But that was not the end of his story in this world.

It was just beginning.

Whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Wow, it has been a really long time.

My grades haven't exactly pulled up yet, but because of some personal circumstances that I won't bore you all with, I ended up taking a break from school for a bit.

Unfortunately, I kinda forgot where I was headed with my other stories, so this new one is my attempt to rekindle the lost spark.

I'm not entirely sure how seriously I'm taking this story, I haven't really thought that far ahead, but hey, it'll be fun for me.

As you might have surmised from this prologue, this is a literal Godlike Ichigo story.

Nothing but Ophis and Great Red can even pose a threat to him anymore, but that almighty power brings about its own set of problems.

Trihexa itself won't play any further role in this story, not any I foresee anyway, but the beasts that comprised it still will in a way.

The seven beasts that make up Trihexa were inspired by the Evils of Man from Fate/Grand Order as players may have noticed, but since I don't play it myself and only 4 Evils were revealed at this point in time, I had to take a few liberties.

I can't really think of anymore to say right now, mostly because it's in the middle of the night and I have a splitting headache, so I'm off to take an aspirin and go to sleep.

See you guys next chapter.

As always, please read and review.


	2. Chapter 1

Hyoudou Issei giggled perversely, echoed by his two partners-in-crime, Motohama and Matsuda, as they peeked in on the members of the Girls' Kendo Club in the changing room.

Most of their usual peeping spots had long been exposed, which necessitated a bit of reconnaissance to find a new one, but find one they did, up in a conveniently placed tree right outside the changing room window.

It took a good bit more physical effort to get to this particular spot, but it was all worth it in the end, judging by the sheer amount of eye candy they were getting.

And best of all was that this vantage point was covered up by the foliage. There was virtually no chance of them being spotted if they stayed crouched.

And that meant no more getting beaten up by heavy and painful shinais!

Well, that was more for Motohama's and Matsuda's benefit.

Those blows didn't really do much to Issei anymore.

For he had a secret that not even his two best friends knew, or his own parents for that matter.

As of about 6 weeks ago, Hyoudou Issei was no longer a human, but a Reincarnated Devil, the Pawn of Rias Gremory's peerage.

Becoming a Devil had upped his physical capabilities, if only by a bit considering his complete lack of talent, and as such, the Kendo Club's blows no longer hurt as much, and any bruises they left would fade overnight.

A convenient ability to have in his opinion.

But, with this new spot, he could bypass the beat up altogether!

Goodbye, pain and hello, good times!

Nothing could possibly go wro-!

*CRACK*

"Uwaaaah!"

The 3 perverts let out identical yelps of shock when their footing suddenly vanished from beneath them, causing them to drop out of the tree and hit the ground below.

"Ow…what the hell…?" Motohama complained as he sat up, groping the ground blindly for his glasses that had fallen off during the fall.

"Did the branch break? Oi, Matsuda, I thought you said it was sturdy!"

"It was! Or it was supposed to be!"

"Ahem."

The trio froze and slowly turned to face the entire roster of the Girls' Kendo Club, somehow fully dressed in record time, surrounding them with their shinais brandished.

The 3 perverts only had one thing to say.

"Oh crap."

And then a barrage of bamboo swords rained down on them.

* * *

 _The moment Ichigo passed through the rift, he tumbled forward when his foot just kept going down, no ground in sight._

 _Instinctively reacting, he formed a foothold of reiatsu beneath him, arresting his movement._

 _No longer in danger of falling, he took the time to look at his surroundings._

 _If the realm he had just been in was one of stagnant grey, then this realm could only be described as one of an endless combination of iridescent colours._

 _The closest description he could think of was a kaleidoscope._

 _It was beautiful, and at the same time, eerie._

 _But now wasn't the time to be taking in the scenery._

" _Now, where's that dragon?"_

* * *

Ichigo returned to his nap, tuning out the screams of agony from Perverted Trio of Kuou Academy as the Girls' Kendo Club released their righteous fury on their person.

He had noticed them creeping yet again, so he flicked a pebble at the tree branch they were standing on.

With the force he had put into it, the tiny piece of gravel sheered right through the wood without any resistance, causing the three to fall out of the tree and alerting their victims to their presence.

He had already intervened mildly like this for nearly every day since he enrolled in this prestigious academy, built in the middle of a tiny town in central Japan.

So far, it didn't seem like the trio had learned their lesson.

Maybe some people just couldn't change.

No, that wasn't entirely true.

Ichigo cracked an eye open and peered towards Hyoudou Issei.

Six weeks ago, the texture of the boy's reiatsu, or just plain old 'energy' as the supernatural denizens of this world called it, had changed from that of a human to that of a Devil.

Admittedly, he had no idea what a Devil's reiatsu felt like until Deus Xiphos had informed what the 'Onee-samas' of Kuou Academy really were, giving him a good reference point.

So far, there were a total of 15 Devils in the school, two Pure-Blooded High Class Devils and their peerages, using the Student Council and the Occult Research Club as fronts for their activities.

It appeared that Hyoudou Issei, as well as that Italian transfer student and the new secretary of the Student Council, were the newest Devils to be reincarnated.

He hadn't seen much of the latter, a result of him keeping to himself, but the number of occasions he had thwarted Hyoudou Issei's peeping and the amount of time the transfer student spent around him gave him some rather unwanted insight into them.

They held Sacred Gears in their bodies.

One of the greatest pieces of information that God had put in his head was that of the weapons he had created for humans, sealing creatures and beings of all sorts into physical vessels so that their abilities could harnessed by the much weaker species.

Of particular interest were the 13 Longinus, the unique and strongest Sacred Gears that could theoretically grow powerful enough in the right hands to kill Gods.

And one of them was in Hyoudou Issei.

Its reiatsu was so gargantuan that when placed side by side with the boy's, it was like comparing a tiny candle to the sun itself.

Boosted Gear, the Gauntlet of the Red Dragon Emperor, possessing the ability to double its wielder's power every 10 seconds.

And sealed inside of it was Y Ddraig Goch, the legendary Welsh Dragon, who along with his counterpart, the Vanishing Dragon, made up the duo known as the Heavenly Dragons, widely feared throughout the supernatural world.

Ichigo grimaced.

Just thinking about a Dragon put a bad taste in his mouth.

His only encounter with a member of the species, the apex, in fact, had made a lasting impression, and it was not a good one.

Still, it wasn't fair to let his ill feelings towards the Strongest Dragon colour his perception of the boy fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate enough to be selected by the governing system as the current Sekiryuutei.

The boy was doing a pretty good job of that on his own, even before he became a Devil.

If there was ever a poster boy for the Deadly Sin of Lust, it was Hyoudou Issei.

And yet, according to the Deus Xiphos, in God's prediction of the future-that-would-have-been, the current Sekiryuutei was instrumental in stopping Trihexa's rampage.

Ichigo couldn't really see how.

The boy was incredibly weak, his reserves barely higher than the average human's.

Perhaps time would tell.

And the other, the Italian student…

Ichigo's eyes softened.

That poor girl, Asia Argento.

One of God's foremost among his many abilities, postcognition, had activated spontaneously when he happened to be observing her, giving him a glimpse into her past.

An orphan left at the doorstep of a small Catholic church in Italy, she was found to have been blessed with Twilight Healing, a Sacred Gear possessing the powers of, as its name would suggest, healing.

She was lauded as a Holy Maiden, sent by Heaven to heal those of faith.

But even with the praise heaped upon her, she remained humble and pious, never seeking any reparation for her services.

And then a certain incident occurred.

Not being able to control God's powers yet, he was hazy on the details, but Asia Argento had apparently found and healed a man, not knowing that he was in fact a Devil, an enemy of the church.

Well, even if she did, with her personality, she probably would have healed him anyway.

That came as a shock and outrage to the church, who had convinced themselves that Twilight Healing would only work on Heaven's forces and their faithful.

They branded her a witch and cast her out without a second thought.

Having nowhere to go, she was forced to seek shelter with the Grigori, the organisation of Fallen Angels.

And she was betrayed yet again, her Sacred Gear extracted, resulting in her death.

Until Rias Gremory and her peerage killed the Fallen Angel responsible and reincarnated Asia as a Devil, returning her Sacred Gear to her.

And even now, as a Devil, she retained her faith in God, continuing to pray despite the pain the act of even invoking the deity's name inflicted on their kind.

Ichigo genuinely felt bad for her, knowing that her prayers, and those of every Christian, would never be answered.

God had spent the last few millennia keeping Trihexa asleep, and was now dead.

There was technically still him, but he hadn't mastered God's abilities yet, not even close, rendering him unable to hear any prayers.

And even if he could hear them…he was definitely no God.

All he really wanted was to be left alone.

And with that sombre thought, Ichigo returned to his nap.

Or would have, had he not been interrupted.

"Ah, Shiba-senpai, there you are."

Grunting ever so slightly in annoyance, he opened his eyes once more to find a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy standing over him.

"Kiba, huh? Need something?" Ichigo asked him disinterestedly.

Kiba Yuuto, Rias Gremory's Knight and a 2nd year in the High School Division, was probably the closest thing to a friend Ichigo had among the student body.

"If you have the time, I would like to ask for another spar." Yuuto requested.

That was how they had got acquainted.

Ichigo had gotten a little careless and accidently allowed himself to be seen by the Knight while practising to keep his skills sharp.

It was a good thing he didn't practise his powers outside of his heavily fortified and warded apartment, a combination of God's spells that he had cast around his home with Deus Xiphos' direction and assistance, to make sure that his powers could not be sensed from outside.

That cat had not been let out of the bag yet, and Ichigo intended to keep it that way.

And shortly after, Yuuto had invited him to a spar.

He hadn't been keen on accepting at first, but figured that it was safe since no one thought of him as any more than an ordinary, if physically talented, human, and that a spar with an actual opponent would do a better job of maintaining his skill level.

Both of them had restrained their physical capabilities to what could be believably human, but Ichigo had skills honed in war and far greater experience on his side, which allowed him to one-sidedly press Yuuto and disarm him over and over again.

In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have demonstrated such a large gulf in their skills, because since then, Yuuto hadn't stopped hounding him for a rematch every week or so, some of which the other members of the Occult Research Club, namely Rias Gremory, Himejima Akeno and Toujou Koneko, would come to observe, in equal parts amusement and interest.

He had yet to lose even once, but he admitted that Yuuto slowly improved with every spar.

At that pace, he would never beat him even after a century, but an improvement was an improvement.

But, there was something a little off about him today.

Something in his eyes that Ichigo didn't like.

The black flame of vengeance.

Something had happened, and recently too.

With all the time he had spent with Yuuto, more than he had with anyone in the school, it was only a matter of time before postcognition had activated in his presence as well.

It had only been for a moment before it went away again, but the little Ichigo had seen was enough to give him an idea.

He had been involved in one of the church's experiments as a child.

Judging by the look in his eyes, he could safely say that whatever happened during that time, the boy had been nursing a grudge ever since.

Ichigo had no intention of ever becoming involved with the supernatural elements of this world, but he was just very slightly worried for his close-to-friend.

Maybe a spar would reveal more.

"…Alright then."

Yuuto smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Excellent! Then, let's go, shall we?"

Stepping towards the members of the Girls' Kendo Club, who were just now finishing on delivering their punishment unto the trio of perverts, Yuuto turned on the charm, causing them to freeze.

"Girls, sorry to interrupt, but Shiba-senpai and I need to borrow your dojo and equipment for a bit."

"K-Kiba-kun! Shiba-senpai! O-O-Of course! Please, go ahead!" The captain of the club, Katase, if he remembered correctly, stuttered.

"Oh, and as always, we prefer to keep this private. So, until we're done…just keep doing what you were doing?"

"Kiba, you traitor! Don't encourage them!" The Pawn shouted as he nursed his many bruises.

"Shut up, beast! Don't talk to the prince! Don't even breathe in his general direction!"

The girls returned to beating the trio up with renewed vigour, forcing the unfortunate boys to cower as the shinais fell upon them with even more force than before.

Ichigo wondered for a moment if he should intervene, starting to feel a little sorry for them.

…Nah, they would live. And who knows, maybe this would finally beat some sense into their skulls, as unlikely as that was.

* * *

 _He had no idea how long he had been moving, using Shunpo to travel as great a distance as he could._

 _In the state of Mugetsu and with the Soul King's and God's powers, he had probably travelled the circumference of the earth by now._

 _But, the surroundings stayed the same, and not knowing if distance or direction had any meaning in this realm at all, he might very well have not moved from the starting point at all._

 _Feeling more than a little frustrated, Ichigo stopped to gripe._

" _Where the hell is that damn dragon!?"_

 _Ask and ye shall receive._

 _Ichigo would soon learn the meaning of those words, because at that moment, a mighty gale billowed from behind him, almost blowing him over._

 _He turned around, to come face to face with a great big yellow eye, as massive as he was tall._

* * *

A bokken hit the ground with a noisy clatter for what must have been the dozenth time.

Ichigo lowered the one he was holding, having disarmed Yuuto yet again.

It wasn't a rare occurrence or anything for this to happen during their spars.

But a dozen in the last 5 minutes?

Something was definitely wrong.

Yuuto's usual fighting style, relying on footwork and speed to slowly adjust to his opponent, was nowhere to be found, instead replaced by a far more reckless and aggressive one that utilized nothing but brute force with no further thought given whatsoever.

Among all their spars, this was probably the one where he had performed the worst.

"What's wrong, Kiba? That amateurish fighting style isn't like you at all." He said, partially as a criticism and partly genuine concern.

"Nothing at all. Please continue." Yuuto quickly replied, picking up his bokken and rushing at him once more, swinging it down for an overhead strike.

It was so unskilled and sluggish that Ichigo needed only one half-hearted upwards swing to knock it out of Yuuto's hands once more.

The Knight said nothing, yet the scowl on his face told Ichigo everything he needed to know.

"There's no point in continuing. You're far too agitated for this spar to mean anything." Ichigo sighed, turning to the sword rack to return the bokken.

"Wait, I'm still-!"

"Kiba, that's enough." Ichigo said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

The words caught in the Knight's throat, and he looked down with a chagrined expression on his face.

Ichigo sighed again.

He would have liked to ask what was going on, but odds were that it involved supernatural elements, and Ichigo had no desire to be a part of that.

He would leave that to his comrades.

Ichigo's peered over at the dojo's window, where he could spot messy brown hair just over the sill.

Not exactly the best attempt at stealth he had ever seen, but at least Hyoudou Issei would be able to tell that something was wrong with his friend now.

Ichigo put the bokken away and left the dojo, pretending not to see the perverted Devil outside.

Hopefully, Yuuto would be back to normal before long.

Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that things were only going to get worse.

* * *

"Hey, Buchou?" Issei voiced up as a sudden thought occurred to him.

After witnessing the one-sided spar between the Golden Prince and the Silent Prince of Kuou Academy, Issei had confronted Yuuto, only for the latter to leave without a word.

He had been acting odd ever since that day at his house when Yuuto found that childhood photo depicting Issei and his friend, who had moved away, in the latter's house, posing as the main characters in their favourite Super Sentai show.

Or more specifically, since he had seen the ornate sword in the background, hung above the fireplace of his friend's house.

Yuuto had called it a Holy Sword, one of the weapons of the church used to kill their kind.

Issei brought his concerns to his King, Rias Gremory, who had already been worried about Yuuto's demeanour as of late and promised to look into it.

Remembering the spar, he suddenly thought of something else.

"Hm?" Rias mumbled, barely looking up from the paperwork she was going over.

"Why didn't you ever recruit Shiba-senpai?"

It wasn't like Issei wanted another damn handsome in their peerage, but he just found it odd that Rias had not sought him out for his obvious talent.

This time, Rias did look up, a look of curiosity on her face.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that, he was toying with Kiba the whole time. Yeah, Kiba wasn't being serious, but it was pretty damn one-sided! He seems like a good candidate for your other Knight, don't you think?"

"Hm…well, it's true that Shiba-kun's talent with a sword is above even Yuuto's…but that's all he has."

"Huh?"

"Just as I said. Aside from his talent with a sword, Shiba-kun is a completely ordinary human. There is no proof of any supernatural lineage in his background whatsoever, he has no more magical energy than the average human, nor does he have a Sacred Gear. His potential is much less than any of us. Even if I recruited him, while he would be one of our stronger members now, no matter how much he trains, he will likely end up as the weakest among all of us at our full potential in the future. It's such a pity, to be honest. If he had a Sacred Gear, any Sacred Gear at all, I wouldn't hesitate to recruit him, and I'm sure Sona would have done the same."

"I see." Issei muttered while looking at his left hand.

He was reminded that if he didn't have Boosted Gear, he would never have become involved with the supernatural world at all.

"Well, it's not like he doesn't have a bright future ahead of him as a human. His grades are among the best of our year, and our teachers have nothing but praise for him, so he shouldn't have any trouble getting into any course at any university he wanted." Rias mused.

[Kukuku, and that's why you kids are so naïve.]

Issei and Rias froze as a circle of green light lit up on the back of Issei's left hand.

A sign that the being sealed inside Boosted Gear, Ddraig, was communicating with them.

"What do you mean?" Issei asked.

[I didn't sense any power from that boy either, but I could discern one thing from that spar. He was holding back. A lot. Far more than the Knight was. He's far stronger than he's letting on. And I don't mean at a human level either.]

Rias's face lit up in interest.

"Really? Tell me more."

And for a moment, Issei felt pity for his senior, whose life was undoubtedly about to get a lot more complicated.

* * *

 _Ichigo swallowed nervously as he stared into the giant yellow eyeball in front of him._

 _The eyeball connected to the rest of a dragon just as big as Trihexa had been._

 _And just as powerful too._

 _Deus Xiphos provided him with a little information._

 _The Great Red, the Dragon of Dreams, the Apocalypse Dragon, the strongest dragon, recorded in the Book of Revelations along with Trihexa._

 _The most powerful being in existence, bar the dead Imperial Beast of the Apocalypse, the Infinite Dragon God, and now Ichigo himself._

 _And according to God, the one who could get him home._

 _And so, Ichigo swallowed his nervousness down and began to ask._

" _God said you would able to get me back home. So, could we speed this up? I'm kinda in a hurry here."_

 _There was a brief period of silence before the Ultimate Dragon spoke._

" _ **No."**_

* * *

"I'm home." Ichigo called out as he stepped into his apartment, as per Japanese tradition.

"Welcome home." Came an answer from the doorway leading to the living room.

A girl with long, straight blond hair and rose-coloured eyes, dressed in a white dress that looked more fit for an outing, appeared from said doorway, smiling at him.

"How was your day?"

"Same as always, though Kiba was acting oddly."

"Is that so? Going to do something about it?"

"You already know the answer to that."

"I see. Then, how about dinner?"

Ichigo smiled slightly.

That was what he loved about her.

She did not judge him for his decision to stay out of supernatural affairs, even when she had the right to, with the responsibility that had been placed upon his shoulders by God.

She simply accepted it all, though she wouldn't hesitate to reprimand him if she felt he was doing something wrong.

Neither did she hesitate to comfort him when his…episodes came up.

It had been worse at the beginning, when he had just come to this world.

Guilt, depression, nightmares and hallucinations plagued him everywhere he went, so much that he could barely leave the apartment.

He knew that it wasn't his fault that everything had gone to shit, and that his friends and family didn't blame him, but that knowledge wasn't enough to assuage him.

If it weren't for her, he wasn't sure he would have made it this far sane.

When he wallowed in self-pity, she pulled him out and scolded him, though not unfairly.

When he was trapped in hallucinations, she dragged him back to reality and reassured him of what was real and what was not.

When he was wracked with nightmares, she was the one who held him and banished them with her warmth.

When he broke down crying, she silently let him sob into her lap, stroking his hair gently and comfortingly.

And he did the same for her.

The death of her long-time partner and father figure had scarred her immensely, and though she had hidden it with a brave façade that he had not noticed while dealing with his own issues, they became apparent when she woke up screaming one night.

Since then, everything she had done for him, he did for her too, scolding her when she had her own pity parties, bringing her back to reality when she got lost in fantasies, reassuring her when she was plagued by her own nightmares, holding her when she cried.

They were each other's anchor, and all they really had left.

It was just the two of them, and that was all they needed.

Shiba Kaien and Maria Eden, as they were known as here.

Or as they called each other in private, Kurosaki Ichigo and Deus Xiphos.

* * *

"By the way, just thought I should let you know, I felt some Excalibur Fragments come into town earlier today." Deus Xiphos told him in the middle of dinner.

"Excalibur Fragments?"

"Oh right, you probably don't know. During the Great War, the Holy Sword Excalibur shattered into 7 Fragments, which were reforged into weaker Holy Swords themselves. 6 are held in the possession of the church, while the seventh went missing."

"Hm…and some of those Fragments are here now?"

Come to think of it, he did sense some strange reiatsu on the other side of town on his way home.

Kinda like Deus Xiphos', but much weaker.

"5 of them, to be exact."

Ichigo paused.

He was sure he had only felt 2.

"I'm sorry, 5 of 7 Fragments are here in town?"

"Mm hm, 3 came in the middle of the night last night and have been hidden since, and 2 more arrived this afternoon. You might want to steer clear of them."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Not at all. Not even Excalibur at the height of its power can begin to compare to me, the Sword of God!" She exclaimed proudly, puffing her ample bosom out proudly.

Then her expression became gentler.

"But, you want to avoid that world, don't you?"

"…Thanks." He expressed sincerely.

They continued their dinner in companionable silence.

Then a thought occurred to him.

Did those Excalibur Fragments have anything to do with Kiba's odd behaviour?

It seemed like too much of a coincidence for it to not be connected in some way.

Then, he shrugged to himself.

That didn't have anything to do with him.

"Oh, one more thing. There's 2 Fallen Angels in town too." Deus Xiphos added, a look of revulsion colouring her features this time.

He knew of her hatred of their kind, surpassing even her disdain for Devils.

While most Devils these days were blasphemous merely by virtue of their existence, every Fallen Angel, from the first to the most recent, were former followers of God who willingly went against his will.

In the eyes of Heaven and the church, Fallen Angels were far worse than Devils.

Still, for more to appear so soon…

"That was fast. Didn't the Gremory group clear out the last bunch just a few weeks ago?"

"Oh, these aren't the run-of-the-mill runts like last time. I know these particular crows. It's Azazel and Kokabiel."

"…I'm sorry, the Viceroy and one of the Cadres of the Grigori are here?"

That was weird.

He definitely had not sensed anyone of that level nearby.

"They think they can hide by masking their energy, but I'd recognize their foul stench anywhere."

"Think they're plotting something?"

"Definitely, but I doubt they're in on whatever the other's planning. I've never sensed them together in the same place. So far, it seems Azazel has gained some interest in the current Sekiryuutei and has been masquerading as a client, while Kokabiel appears to be planning something with the 3 Excalibur Fragments that turned up in the middle of the night."

"I swear, this town is a supernatural magnet. The little sisters of two of the current Yondai Maou, along with their peerages, that group of Fallen Angels a few weeks back, the Phenex that showed up just a week ago, and now two of the Grigori's leaders and five Fragments of the most famous Holy Sword are here too? Why did we ever come here?"

"Because it's easier to avoid them when we're right under their noses, and in a position to observe them." She said patiently.

This was hardly the first time he had questioned their decision to move to ground zero of all places, but he understood the logic.

As long as he didn't stupidly blow his own cover, he could observe the movements of the supernatural elements converging on this town and avoid them accordingly.

"Well, enough of that discussion. How about a little…fun after this meal?" She suggested with a sultry look.

He smirked.

"My my, are you propositioning me?"

"Why, I believe I am."

* * *

"… _No? What the hell do you mean, 'No'!?" Ichigo shouted at the guardian of the Dimensional Gap._

 _He was promptly caught off guard by the look of immense sorrow that the dragon was directing at him._

 _Suddenly, he got a very bad feeling._

" _ **I am sorry. I cannot send you home."**_

" _Can't? Or won't?"_

"… _ **You did not end up in that realm with Trihexa and God by coincidence. I pulled you from your world and sent you there to help God slay the beast."**_

" _Yeah? Well, mission accomplished! Trihexa's dead! Crisis averted! Now send me back already!"_

" _ **I cannot. There is no place for you to go home to anymore."**_

"… _Excuse me?"_

* * *

Ichigo woke up with a grunt as the first rays of the rising sun fell on his face.

He sat up on his bed, shivering slightly when the morning chill met his bare torso, momentarily confusing him until he remembered what he had been getting up to before falling asleep.

He looked to the other side of the Queen size bed and smiled tenderly when he found Deus Xiphos, fast asleep next to him, the sunlight making her milky white skin, just barely visible beneath the blanket, glisten.

This little…physical relationship between them had been going on for a while now.

It had started on a bad day for both of them, when neither of them was really in the proper state of mind to offer any words of comfort to the other.

So, they had done the next best thing.

It had worked, almost a bit too well, the intense physical activity helping to take their minds off anything else until they were completely exhausted, with each other's presence helping to stave off any nightmares when they finally hit the hay.

It had been an enjoyable experience for both of them, so they had not seen any reason to not do it again.

It wasn't like they did it every night, just when one of them was in the mood, or in dire need of comfort that their usual methods couldn't provide.

Their sessions had ranged from desperate and rigorous to slow and tender, depending on the mood, and each only served to reinforce their feelings for each other.

He wasn't quite sure if what he felt for her was love, never having been in such a relationship before, and neither had she for that matter, the only other real relationship she had being with God, who was more of a father figure to her than anything.

However, he didn't deny feeling a strong sense of affection and protectiveness towards her, and he was privately confident that she was fond of him as well, judging by her proclivity to be in nearly constant physical contact with him at home.

He reached down to gently brush a stray lock of her blonde hair out of her face, if only so he could admire her impossibly perfect features better.

Unfortunately, that small act had the unintentional side effect of waking Deus Xiphos up, not that he particularly minded.

He watched patiently as her rose-coloured eyes slowly opened, and a delicate hand shifted to rub the sleep out of them.

Then her eyes turned to look at him, and her lips curled upwards into a radiant smile.

Ichigo had yet to find anything in existence more beautiful than that lovely smile of hers.

"Morning, beautiful." He greeted her.

"Good morning to you too, handsome. Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"

"Nah, still got a few minutes before I need to leave."

"Is that so? In that case, care to join me in the shower?"

"We both know that if I took you up on that, I'd never get to school on time."

"Pity. Maybe tonight then."

"I'll hold you to that." Ichigo said as he leaned in to peck her on the cheek before getting out of bed.

A few minutes and a quick shower later, he was in the process of dressing himself when Deus Xiphos looked out the window with a small frown.

"Hm?"

"Something wrong?" He asked her.

"…The 2 Excalibur Fragments that arrived yesterday afternoon are heading towards the academy."

"…Oi oi, don't tell me the wielders are planning to pick a fight with the Devils?"

"Unlikely. Those 2 are probably with the church, and Heaven knows better than to attempt an assassination of two of the current Maous' little sisters when they're in the worst position among the Three Factions."

Ichigo winced slightly at the mention of Heaven's current condition.

During the Great War, all Three Factions had lost a good deal of their main forces fighting each other. Chief among them were the original Yondai Maou and that fragment of himself that God had left to take his place while he kept Trihexa sealed. However, while the Devils found replacements in the current Yondai Maou, who were reportedly stronger than the originals, and the Grigori managed to supplement their own forces with Sacred Gear users, there was no replacing God.

Michael and the Four Great Seraphs were doing a decent job of holding Heaven together, but God's absence had left them greatly weakened, as evidenced by the drop in the effectiveness of Holy Water and Crosses against their enemies.

And worst of all, unlike the Devils who had the Evil Piece system, and Fallen Angels, who needed only to tempt other Angels into falling, Angels had no way to replenish their numbers.

That left Heaven in the most precarious position among the Three Factions, and if it weren't for the fact that most of the top brass among them were not interested in reigniting the flames of war, Heaven might have already fallen by now.

He could stabilize things if he was willing to take the throne of God, but he wasn't, and despite being adamant in wanting to stay out of that world and being aware that Deus Xiphos would not revile him for his decision, he couldn't help but feel the tiniest twinge of guilt.

"…Then, what would Excalibur wielders want in the Academy?" He asked, trying to get back on track.

"Most likely, it has something to do with the other 3 Fragments and whatever Kokabiel is planning with them. Whatever it is, it can't be good if that old warmonger is involved."

"…"

"Well, that has nothing to do with us. Come on, it's time for you to go. Can't neglect your education." Deus Xiphos said matter-of-factly, the last part tinged with a hint of amusement.

He would never be able to thank her enough for her constant support of his decision.

Technically, having God's abilities, he could grant himself knowledge of basically anything he wanted to if he mastered them, but his desire for some sense of normalcy was what drove him to go back to school to complete his education, despite the redundancy.

He would have to make tonight extra special to show his appreciation.

* * *

Ichigo stared at the sad sight before him.

Right after school let out, he headed out to the nearby shopping district to buy fresh ingredients for the dinner he was planning tonight.

He was just about done and ready to head home when he noticed a commotion.

Normally, he had no interest in being a busybody, but on this occasion, the blue hair of one of the people involved caught his attention

It wasn't exactly a very common hair colour.

So, despite common sense warning him otherwise, he walked over to see what all the hubbub was about.

He was greeted by the strangest sight he had come across in a while.

Some smooth-talking salesman in a cheap suit was making a sales pitch, practically regurgitating words, to a pair of young girls dressed in white cloaks and what appeared to be fetish suits underneath.

So far, it looked like whatever he was pitching was getting the chestnut-haired girl excited and starry-eyed, while the blue haired one looked a bit more sceptical, though nowhere as much as she should be.

Both had a decent amount of reiatsu, maybe at the level of a double digit Seated Officer, but what really interested him was the reiatsu coming from the long object wrapped in cloth strapped to the blue-haired one's back and the ribbon tied around the other's left arm.

Like Deus Xiphos', but vastly weaker and diluted.

Those must have been the Excalibur Fragments Deus Xiphos had told him about.

Which meant that those two were probably the members of the Church that had been sent here.

At this point, it probably would have been wiser to walk away, but the sheer strangeness of the situation kept him in place.

From what he was picking up, the item the salesman was pitching was supposedly a portrait of some Christian Saint, a really shitty one at that, and was willing to let it go at the bargain price of…50,000 Yen!?

He recognized a rip-off when he saw one.

Anyone who could fall for that had to be a whole different level of gullible, and that looked to be exactly what the chestnut-haired girl was, judging by how taken in she looked.

The other spectators looked amused and did not seem interested in helping the two out, so he supposed it fell to him to be the good Samaritan here.

Looking around, he quickly spotted the police officer he knew to be on patrol around this time and waved him over.

The officer took one look at the scene and figured out what was happening.

He cleared his throat, catching the attention of the salesman and his two would-be victims.

The instant the former laid eyes on the blue uniform, he paled and shot off like a bullet, leaving his merchandise, prompting the officer to give chase.

Maybe because they were disappointed that their free entertainment had come to an abrupt end, the other spectators began to disperse, leaving two confused buyers behind.

"Eh? Eh? What just happened?" The chestnut-haired girl exclaimed in a slight British accent.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Ichigo stepped forward.

"That guy was a conman. He was about to scam you."

The girl looked thunder-struck by the revelation, while her blue-haired companion, nowhere near as reserved as he was, actually did roll her eyes.

"I told you that man was suspicious. That poor excuse for a painting doesn't look anything like a Saint."

"And in the first place, why would a valuable painting of a Christian Saint worth more than 50,000 Yen be sold on some random street corner in Japan?" Ichigo added, not really intending to rub salt into her wound, but ended up doing so anyway.

The chestnut-haired girl looked like she was about to cry.

Sighing, Ichigo hefted his groceries.

He had wasted enough time here.

"Anyway, be careful not to get scammed again." He said simply as he walked away.

"Ah, thank you for your help! O Lord, please bless that kind-hearted soul!"

He continued walking, not breaking his stride.

Not having the heart to tell her that no one would be answering that prayer.

* * *

" _ **When I pulled you from your world, I meant to pull you and only you. However, as you know, another arrived from your reality with you. Someone I had not intended to bring."**_

"… _Yhwach."_

" _ **Yes, and more importantly, the power of the Soul King that Yhwach had usurped. And that is the crux of this matter. Unlike God's reality, which is capable of functioning even without the presence of deities, the integrity of your reality was solely reliant on the Soul King's power. The moment that power left your reality, it collapsed upon itself, erased from all points in history."**_

" _T-That can't be…Urahara-san said he and the Royal Guard had a plan to put everything back together…"_

" _ **From what I gather, that plan involved installing Yhwach's corpse, still possessing the Soul King's power, as the new lynchpin. The Soul King's powers are completely unique and cannot be replicated in any way. The moment Yhwach was pulled away with the Soul King's power still within him, your reality's fate was sealed. And there is no force in existence capable of restoring it, not even I, the Monarch of the Dimensional Gap. The countless unique components that made up your reality have all vanished into nothing. I could certainly create a new reality that is exceedingly close to yours, but in the end, it would be nothing more than a mere copy, because the components are completely different. I am sorry. It was not our intention."**_

 _At that point, Ichigo could barely hear the True Dragon's words._

" _Everything he knew, everything he loved…it was all gone…?_

 _Just like that…?_

 _That…that was just…_

* * *

"…Looks like things are getting more intense." Ichigo noted, sensing the ongoing battle on campus in the middle of the night.

It was the day after he came across the church representatives, and boy, had it been eventful.

First there had been a battle on the outskirts of town, with Hyoudou Issei, Toujou Koneko, Yuuto and the newest addition to Sona Sitri's peerage, Saji something-he-couldn't-remember on one side and a vaguely familiar reiatsu signature, wielding what felt like another Excalibur Fragment, on the other.

That had been going in the Devils' favour before their opponent retreated, prompting Yuuto and the two church representatives, who had showed up to join the fight, to chase after him.

Then a few hours later, a powerful reiatsu signature, strong enough to match a Captain, showed up right outside Hyoudou Issei's residence.

Deus Xiphos told him it was Kokabiel, and the Cadre dropped off one of the church representatives, who was on the verge of death and bereft of her Excalibur Fragment.

The chestnut-haired one, if he wasn't mistaken.

He headed for the academy, where the Gremory and Sitri peerages soon converged after moving the wounded church girl to what was probably one of their safe houses.

Now, the Gremory peerage as well as the blue-haired church warrior was engaged in battle with Kokabiel and what felt like an amalgamation of 4 Excalibur Fragments, improperly forced together to produce a strong sense of wrongness, while the Sitri peerage maintained a barrier around the campus to prevent any collateral damage to the town.

"You know, if you want to observe, there's a better way of doing it." Deus Xiphos said as she walked behind him and placed her hands on his temples.

"Focus now, and concentrate on what you wish to see." She instructed him.

Doing as she said, he turned his eyes out the window and in the direction of the academy.

His mind focused on the battle going on within the boundaries of the barrier, and within seconds, the scenery in front of him melted away and was replaced by what was unmistakably the schoolyard of the academy.

The Gremory peerage faced a teenage boy with grey hair and a crazed look on his face as he brandished a misshapen sword, a rotund old man dressed in clerical clothing, and a black-haired, bloodshot-eyed young man, dressed in black robes, with ten black crow-like wings extending from his back.

"That's Kokabiel, I presume?"

"That's right. Ugly, isn't he?"

"Hm." He hummed noncommittally.

So, this was one of God's many abilities, pericognition, the power to observe the present.

It was impossible for Ichigo to use God's abilities to this extent on his own, since he had not made much headway into his training with them, not that he had much motivation to do so to begin with.

It was only thanks to Deus Xiphos, who was familiar with every trick God had up his sleeve, assisting him.

Useful, to be sure.

Especially since this perception wasn't limited to sight alone.

He listened as Yuuto confronted the old man, who he learned was named Valper Galilei, the mastermind of the Holy Sword Project that the Knight had been subjected to when he was a human.

He felt disgust as the former priest justified his actions with the most selfish of reasons, showing absolutely no sign of remorse.

It reached a boiling point when he learned that the church continued to use his research to bolster their ranks with artificial Holy Sword wielders even after excommunicating him, covering up their own culpability.

He watched as Valper Galilei removed a crystal filled with luminescence, the crystallization of the 'Holy Factor' he had extracted from his hapless victims, and carelessly tossed it aside.

He watched as Yuuto picked it up carefully, as though afraid that it would shatter in his hands, and cried silently at the remains of his childhood friends.

He felt awe and wonder when the fragments of their souls appeared from the crystal, encouraging Yuuto to let go of the past and move forward and grasp his own future.

He felt anticipation when they converged into a ray of light that shone down on the Knight.

And then Yuuto's reiatsu shot up to the level of a Lieutenant as a new sword formed in his hand, possessing a contradictory mix of Holy and Demonic reiatsu.

"What…is that?"

He knew what state Yuuto had just achieved.

Balance Breaker.

A Bankai-like state that all Sacred Gears had the potential to reach, but could only be achieved when their wielders experienced an emotional upheaval.

God's knowledge of the Sacred Gear system had already let him know of this 'bug' that he had not intended, but chose not to fix.

That was not what he was asking about.

It was that strange sword in Yuuto's hands.

"Something only possible because of father's absence in the throne of Heaven. Opposing energies like Holy and Demonic are not supposed to be able to coexist within the same vessel without destroying it. If I had to describe it, I would say it's…a Holy-Demonic Sword." Deus Xiphos concluded.

"Holy-Demonic Sword…"

Ichigo continued to watch as Yuuto, finally free of his inner demons, wielded his new sword, and alongside the blue-haired girl, who he learned was named Xenovia and was a natural Holy Sword wielder who had been chosen to bear the Peerless Holy Sword, Durandal, confronted the teenage boy, Freed Sellzan, and shattered the False Excalibur, cutting him down in the process.

And then Valper Galilei had an epiphany, only to be struck down by Kokabiel, who finally rose to join the battle himself.

His fists tightened as he allowed the scene to fade away, putting him back in his apartment.

"…They'll be killed."

"…I know."

It was a clear result from the start.

Even together, the Gremory and Sitri peerages, and Xenovia, were nowhere near strong enough to defeat Kokabiel.

The difference in their power was as clear as night and day.

They would be dead in minutes.

And there was no way that Heaven and the Underworld would not retaliate.

The Great War would reignite, and who knew how many would die this time?

Was it…really okay for him to just sit on the sidelines and believe that everything would work out fine?

…No.

No, it was not.

Despite his reluctance to get involved, he knew that he would never forgive himself if they died and he could have stopped it.

And his friends, his family…they would be ashamed of him for not doing anything.

This once…just this once…he would help.

Deus Xiphos nodded as she noted the resolve in his eyes.

"If that's your decision, then I will always support it, my dear Master. Come, let me show you an old favourite of Father's."

Once more, she placed her hands on his temples.

Immediately, he felt the abilities that God left him shift until one came to the forefront of his mind.

"Oi oi, there's no point if I end up killing all of them too, you know?" He said as the details of this technique trickled in.

"It'll be fine. This technique will only strike down those you designate as the target. So don't mess this up."

Ichigo closed his eyes and concentrated.

Power welled up within him as it responded to his call, eager to be used.

And as his mind focused in on his single target, he raised a hand.

" _Goodbye, Kokabiel."_

The name of this technique left his mouth as he executed it, power tinging every word.

The Light of Judgement that struck down the wicked.

" **Ain Soph Aur."**

* * *

Kokabiel cackled as despair filled the expressions of his opponents, particularly the Durandal wielder and the Twilight Healing possessor.

He had just revealed the truth that the higher echelons of the Three Factions had been desperately hiding from their followers for so long.

God is dead.

The supreme deity of the Judeo-Christian Faction, beloved by so many faithful worldwide, was dead.

And that was why Fallen Angels reigned supreme.

God was dead. The original Yondai Maou were dead.

Therefore, the Grigori, whose leadership had remained intact even after the Great War, was superior, despite what that peace-loving fool Azazel said.

And with this blow to Heaven and the Underworld, striking down the little sisters of two of the current Maous and the current Durandal wielder, he would show them their rightful place.

"Well, I can't say it hasn't been fun, Rias Gremory. But, I do believe it's time for me to put an end to this."

He raised a hand, preparing to create a Light Spear of a scale they had never seen before.

And then the sky above was filled with white light.

Before he could even look, the barrier that the Sitri girl and her peerage had been maintaining in the foolish hopes of containing him shattered, and a great pillar of light struck him.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?"

He roared in pain as the light consumed him and seared his very being.

Impossible.

This wasn't possible.

"This is…Ain Soph Aur!?" He exclaimed in disbelief.

He recognized this light.

How could he not?

How many times had he seen it deployed against their enemies when he still counted among Heaven's ranks?

How many times had he watched it cleanse the filth off the battlefield, leaving the army of Heaven as the only clear victor?

But, this was impossible.

Because the only being in existence capable of using this light was already dead.

The only way this could happen was if…

…No…

No…!

"It can't be…you're still alive!?"

He struggled as mightily as he could, but there was no escaping this light.

He knew that better than anyone else present.

"Why!? Why must you continue to get in my way!?"

And as the light turned his prided black-feathered wings to ashes, he let out one final roar before succumbing, naming his vanquisher.

" **FATHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"**

* * *

 _Ichigo had no idea he had stood rooted in place._

 _He just could not process the magnitude of his loss._

 _But regardless of how long it had been, the Great Red had not moved, patiently waiting for him._

 _He only snapped out of his daze when he felt a pair of slender arms wrap comfortingly around his abdomen._

 _He turned to see a blonde-haired, rose-eyed woman staring at him with a worried expression._

" _Who…?"_

" _We should go. There's nothing left for us here."_

 _Ichigo let himself be pulled away by her, barely able to care who she was and where she was taking him._

 _By the time he was lucid again, he found himself lying on a bed in an apartment somewhere._

 _He turned to his side to see himself lying next to him._

 _Or rather, a physical body with his appearance._

 _That wasn't his original body._

 _It had been left behind in his bedroom when he left to fight the war against the Wandereich, and was now lost along with everything else, if the Ultimate Dragon had spoken the truth._

 _And Ichigo knew it had._

 _He had no proof, just a gut feeling._

 _And they had an annoying tendency to be proven right._

 _This new body…had the same feel to it as Great Red had._

 _A new body constructed by it as a peace offering and an apology?_

 _Red hot anger surged in his being, anger at Great Red, anger at God, anger at himself, anger at everything, and for a moment, he considered just letting loose and destroying everything around him, consequences be damned._

 _And then it was drowned out by overwhelming sorrow, and he collapsed back onto the bed._

 _He would later find out that the woman who had taken him away from the Dimensional Gap was Deus Xiphos, having assumed a human appearance to help him._

 _And that this was an apartment in the town of Kuou in God's reality's Japan, a hot bed for supernatural elements._

 _And that she had gone out to establish false identities for them to live here in peace._

 _And that he would later have to pay one last visit to the End of the World, where he and God had fought Trihexa, to deal with the remnants of the beast._

 _But, those would come later._

 _For now, all Ichigo wanted to do was cry._

 _And that was what he did._

* * *

Vali Lucifer stood stunned at the sight before him.

A great pillar of Holy Light, of a purity and power he could never have imagined in his wildest fantasies, striking the rogue Cadre of the Grigori down, leaving Kokabiel in such a sorry state that even he felt bad for him.

He imagined it couldn't have been too pleasant to lose both his wings AND his limbs.

The Gremory peerage and the Durandal wielder, his destined rival, the Sekiryuutei among them, looked just as shocked as he felt.

He knew they had heard as well.

Kokabiel's final cries of defiance before falling.

The sheer impossibility of the culprit he had named.

After all, the armies of the Three Factions had witnessed God perishing with the original Yondai Maou at the climax of the Great War millennia ago.

God was dead.

That was the undeniable truth.

But…who else could produce such pure light?

Who else could have used the legendary technique of God that inspired abject fear in Fallen Angels and Devils alike?

He wouldn't have even entertained the thought if his partner Albion had not spoken up before, expressing disbelief at the sight of the light.

And informing him of its origins.

Maybe…

Just maybe…

Vali's lips curled into a smirk.

Things were about to get much more interesting.

But first, he had a job to do.

And so, he landed to retrieve the broken body of the being once known as the 'Seraph of the Stars'.

* * *

The Light of God, as briefly as it had appeared, could be felt all over the world.

The Gods of various factions turned in its direction as the presence of one of their ilk who had been silent for so long made itself known.

The Devils of the Underworld shivered, even in the safety of another realm, as the power of their enemy made it across dimensional boundaries, Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan fearing for the safety of their little sisters.

The Fallen Angels shuddered as they felt the presence of the one they had turned their backs on.

The Angels of Heaven felt a surge of power, however briefly as the power of their creator washed over them.

The Seraphim were left in complete disbelief, even as a seed of hope sprouted within them.

And a Dragon God in the guise of a little girl perked up when it felt power unlike any other.

The supernatural elements Ichigo had been so desperate to avoid had all taken notice, and as much as he told himself that this would be the only time he would ever interfere, he knew it was not.

No matter how much he wished for it to be.

* * *

Another chapter down in record time!

I honestly had no idea which direction I was taking this when I posted the prologue.

After all, Ichigo curbstomping everyone he meets can only be entertaining for so long before it gets boring and repetitive.

And then I read a review that suggested a different approach.

And so this chapter was born.

So basically, this story will be about Ichigo trying to get over the trauma of losing everything he had known while trying futilely to stay out of supernatural affairs.

Ichigo won't be joining every fight, that would leave no room for the DxD characters to grow.

For example, if Ichigo had joined in from the start and crushed Kokabiel, would Yuuto have ever gotten over his issues with Excalibur and achieved Balance Breaker?

So, Ichigo will only intervene when the opponent is a bit too much for them to handle.

In case anyone was confused, the sections of this chapter written completely in italics were segments telling what happened right after the prologue.

And Shiba Kaien and Maria Eden are just the aliases that Ichigo and Deus Xiphos are using as covers in this reality.

I'm still undecided on whether Ichigo should have a harem or not, but as can be seen in this chapter, Deus Xiphos is definitely a love interest.

I originally considered using Est from Blade Dance as Deus Xiphos' appearance, but that didn't fit my image of her as a loving while somewhat strict older sister figure.

If anyone is curious what she looks like, just look up Lisa Highwalker from Unlimited Fafnir. She was the first one to come to mind when it came to older sister figures that weren't part of DxD.

One last thing, I'm changing the title of this story, because the old one doesn't fit the theme of this story anymore.

I think that's all for now.

As always, please read and review.


	3. Chapter 2

Ichigo shivered as something prickled against his senses.

"What the fuck is that!?" He exclaimed.

He had toned down the profanity in recent months, so it wasn't every day he cussed to that degree.

Then again, it also wasn't every day that a metaphorical _black hole_ appeared in the middle of town.

He knew what it really was.

A reiatsu signature, one that, while considerably greater than any Captain, even in Bankai, was still weaker than his own.

Its owner was doing a very good job of suppressing down to a level where it wouldn't affect the physical plane.

It was only thanks to his superior sensory abilities that he could tell just how much of it there was.

But its texture unnerved him greatly.

Even the reiatsu of the strongest Hollows just felt like a wild beast than anything else.

What manner of being would you have to be to emit reiatsu that felt like a well of infinite gravity that swallowed and destroyed everything near it?

"Ah…that would be the current Lucifer. It's been a while since I last saw him. I had almost forgotten what a ridiculous being he was." Deus Xiphos noted as she turned in the direction of that absurd reiatsu.

"That's Sirzechs Lucifer!? Are you kidding? You said that a Maou's power was only roughly equivalent to a Captain's!"

"That's true. Even the strongest of ordinary Devils will never go any further than the level of one of your Captains without the influence of an external force like a Sacred Gear. However, Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub are beings that cannot be described as mere Devils. Their individual power exceeds even father's and can rank among the vaunted Top 10 of the World. I hear those in the know have taken to calling them Super Devils."

A fitting title, because that _thing_ he was sensing right now could not possibly be a mere Devil.

Even the other Devil who had arrived with him, stronger than the Gremory and Sitri peerages put together and perhaps stronger than Kokabiel, was nothing in comparison.

And there was another Devil like that!?

Seriously, how was Kokabiel planning on defeating them!?

It was about then that Ichigo realized just how big a bullet Heaven and the Grigori had dodged when Kokabiel failed to execute his plan.

If they had really gone to war, the other two Factions would have been ripped apart by those monsters.

"Still, what's the Crimson Lucifer doing in the human world of all places? You'd think he'd have more important things to be doing with his time, especially with the fiasco just a few days ago."

"Who knows? Maybe he's here to participate in the class visitations tomorrow." Deus Xiphos suggested jokingly.

Ichigo rolled his eyes.

If that were true, then the Yondai Maou must have a lot more free time on their hands than he had imagined.

"No, but in all seriousness, he's probably here to check the meeting venue for that little conference of theirs."

Ah, that's right.

He had coincidentally overheard a conversation between the Gremory and Sitri heiresses, the wards around the Student Council office preventing eavesdroppers doing practically nothing to stop his godly senses, that the leaders of the Three Factions were planning to conduct a conference to discuss Kokabiel's actions.

It was only logical that they would do it in the human world, and when he and Deus Xiphos had given more thought to it, they concluded that it would most likely be held in the academy, where so many supernatural elements had been converging over the past few weeks, most recently being Kokabiel, the Excalibur Fragments and the Hakuryuukou, who had arrived right after he had struck down the former Seraph of the Stars with Ain Soph Aur.

"It's still so very strange to me. The original Lucifer would have rather died than ever sit down to have a talk with Father after he was cast down."

"Well then, I guess we should be thankful that he's gone now. That said, hopefully this doesn't end in a bloodbath."

"Eh, it'll be fine. Aside from Kokabiel, none of the leaders of the Three Factions have any interest in war."

"They don't, but I don't think the same goes for some of the other members of their factions. Several millennia's worth of hatred, grudges and prejudices don't just up and vanish overnight."

He had seen that first-hand during the war with the Wandereich.

"I know that. And they do too. Give them some credit. They have been running things for a while now, you know? Whatever hurdles they encounter, I'm sure they'll able to overcome. And then we'll finally have our long-awaited peace." She spoke softly, gently placing a hand over his and squeezing comfortingly.

Ichigo squeezed back.

Now if only he could believe it himself.

* * *

Ichigo had to exert a lot more effort than he cared to admit to not slap a palm over his face.

"He's actually here…" He muttered very softly to himself with no little amount of exasperation and incredulity.

He referred, of course, to the red-haired Maou standing at the back of the class, holding a video camera and training it completely on his extremely embarrassed little sister while throwing cringy words of encouragement at her, sounding like he was talking to a toddler rather than a girl on the verge of her majority.

He was joined by another red-haired man, looking slightly older with a trimmed beard, probably their father, the current head of the Gremory Clan, acting just as embarrassing.

Ichigo actually felt sorry for his Devil classmate, whose face had turned as red as her hair, looking like she just wanted a hole in the floor to open up and swallow her.

It was the exact same kind of shit his dad would have pulled.

Well, not with him, but definitely with Karin and Yuzu.

The one time Isshin had been able to take time off from work to participate in Ichigo's class visitations back in Karakura had resulted in one of their usual brawls, which only reinforced the delinquent image he had amassed.

He closed his eyes and evened his breathing, allowing the pain in his heart to fade away.

It still hurt to remember his deceased family, and by extension, everyone and everything else he had lost.

Nowhere near as bad as it had been when he arrived a few months ago, but it hurt nonetheless, and Ichigo did not think it would ever go away.

Time healed all wounds, but that didn't mean that scars wouldn't be left behind.

And the scars left on him were deep indeed.

Ichigo snapped out of his melancholy and paid attention to the class.

Which was promptly interrupted when the door opened with a loud sound, drawing everyone's attention.

He felt the blood drain from his face when he saw who had just arrived.

"Oh no…" He groaned louder than he had intended to, loud enough for his classmates to hear.

"Sorry I'm late! I got lost on the way here! This school is a lot bigger than I thought it was!" Deus Xiphos declared with a giggle.

Her appearance drew more than one whistle of appreciation from the boys in the class, though those quickly quailed under the hard stares of their female classmates and their mothers, saving him the trouble of having to deal with them himself.

"Um…Miss? Are you the relative of one of my students?" His teacher, that poor woman, asked.

"Yes, I am! Yoo-hoo, Kaien!" She called in a singsong voice as she waved enthusiastically at him.

He buried his face in his hands as all the attention shifted to him.

"Um…but our records indicate that Shiba-kun has no living relatives…"

This wasn't anything new to his classmates, since he had told them that when he was introduced to the class at the start of the year as a part of the elaborate cover story he and Deus Xiphos had established for his false identity, but it was probably news to their relatives, whose gazes turned pitying, almost causing him to tell them to shove it up their asses.

She gasped loudly, which was so obviously fake, but somehow, no one but him had taken notice.

"Kaien, you never told them about your wonderful girlfriend!? And to think I went through the trouble of making time in my busy schedule to come visit today!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH!?" Was the general reaction from the class, especially the girls.

" _Why. Are. You. Here."_ He enunciated through their bond.

" _Eh, staying cooped up in the apartment all the time is just so boring. I have to entertain myself somehow."_ She returned, the corner of her lip turning upwards slightly.

" _At my expense."_

" _Of course. You live to entertain me. Besides, this way, you won't feel lonely, right?"_

Ah, and there it was.

The real reason she had come.

" _You know, you could have just said that from the start."_

" _Oh, but if I spoiled you too much, you might begin taking me for granted."_

"I-I'm sorry, Miss, but class visitations are for family members only. I'm going to have to ask you to leave-"

Ichigo winced.

His teacher had no idea at all what she was getting herself into.

Without missing a beat, she changed her expression to one of overly exaggerated aggrievement, apparently taking offense to his teacher's words.

Of course, the unadulterated amusement in her eyes told a very different story.

"Excuse me!? Who are you to decide who is family and who isn't!?"

That, of course, was only just the beginning of a very long tirade that would only derail the lesson even further, and cause even more embarrassment, for both him and his teacher.

So he threw the poor woman a bone.

"Sensei, please, just take it from me. There's no way to win an argument against her." He said with a sigh.

He guessed he must have looked as tired as he felt, judging by the looks of sympathy and understanding the married men in the room were shooting him.

His teacher, looking like she was on the verge of tears, just shakily nodded, and with a triumphant smile, Deus Xiphos joined the other family members at the back of the class.

Ichigo twitched, dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.

The spark of amusement in her eyes had yet to fade.

Which meant that he was still in for a very long day.

* * *

It was a in a very exhausted state that Ichigo finally stumbled out of the classroom, Deus Xiphos, still smiling serenely, as though she hadn't spent most of the lesson giving him a slowly worsening headache with her antics, right behind him.

"That was fun! Where to next, honey?" She asked in a unfalteringly bright voice as she wrapped her arms around his right, clinging to him in a provocative manner.

"The vending machine. If I have to deal with this all day, then I'm gonna need some caffeine in my system." He griped.

Ichigo did not think a mere walk of the short distance between his classroom and the vending machine could be so painful, but the countless gazes from the many students they had passed by on the way proved him wrong.

Their eyes all held the same question.

'Who was that foreign woman clinging to the Silent Prince of Kuou Academy?'

He still had no idea how that stupid nickname the student body had given him even got started.

And when he got to the vending machine, he, naturally, just had to run into the last bunch of people he wanted to meet right now.

"Ara, Shiba-kun, good day. That was certainly an…interesting lesson, wasn't it?" Rias Gremory greeted him, accompanied by her Queen, Bishop and Pawn.

"Not quite the word I would use, Gremory-san. I certainly could have done without the humiliation." He replied cordially.

"Ah, I know what you mean. At least you weren't alone in your suffering…" She sighed.

"So, that pair of…enthusiastic redheads were your family after all?"

Her face burned bright red once more, and she quickly buried it in her hands much like he had been doing for the past hour.

"I…would appreciate it if you pretend you never saw that."

"If you do the same for me, deal."

"Oh? What are you trying to say, Kaien? That you're embarrassed of me?" Deus Xiphos chose that moment to interject, her Cheshire-like grin widening.

"…You are enjoying this way too much."

"Funning you gives me life, dear."

"I'm sure it does. Also, kid, if you don't stop staring at my girlfriend's chest, I am going to clock you." Ichigo said, having noticed Issei staring unblinkingly at Deus Xiphos' bosom.

The Sekiryuutei's head snapped upwards, sweat forming on his brow.

His King's hand quickly found his ear and began to twist.

"Ow! Ow! Buchou, it hurts!"

"I'm very sorry, Shiba-kun. My adorable junior here is just a bit too in touch with his libido." Rias apologized, using her grip on her Pawn's ear to force him to bow.

"Yes, the whole school has noticed." He replied drily.

That was when he noticed the object in Issei's hands.

"…What is that?"

"Oh, this? It's a sculpture of me that Issei made in class. Don't you think it's rather well done?" Rias commented with a strong undertone of pride.

And he had to admit, it was a very accurate scaled replica of the Gremory heiress.

There was just one tiny problem.

The sculpture was naked.

Completely naked.

Her nether regions were thankfully undetailed, but her chest on the other hand…

And she did not seem to mind her naked body basically being displayed brazenly, albeit through a medium.

Was this a regular occurrence or something?

"How did you even…No, wait. On second thought, don't say anything. I think I'll sleep better at night not knowing the horrid, torrid details of whatever it is you lot get up to behind closed doors." Ichigo grimaced, quickly changing his mind before they regaled him with tales of devilish debauchery.

"D-Don't make it sound like we're a bunch of depraved perverts!" Rias retorted, finally showing a bit of the shame she should have a moment ago.

"Considering that one of your club members is the most notorious pervert in the school, your argument kinda lacks credibility." He deadpanned.

And there really wasn't any way to refute that, and Rias seemed to realize that, judging by the way her shoulders dropped.

Fortunately for her, and not so much for him, Deus Xiphos came to her rescue.

"I don't think you really have any room to complain, dear. We aren't exactly chaste virgins when no one's looking either." She commented with a bright smile.

" _Seriously. Why?"_ He asked her mentally, but only got a giggle in response.

"Oh ho? Could it be that the much sought after Silent Prince is actually a beast in disguise?" Himejima Akeno asked in a teasing voice.

"He's a beast in all the right places, I can tell you that." Deus Xiphos promptly replied in a completely even voice.

Akeno blinked and stared as her cheeks slowly flushed, obviously not expecting a serious answer.

"Eyes above the waistline." He snapped when he saw her gaze starting to wander downwards, causing her to freeze.

"You damn handsome! Getting such an amazing girlfriend out of nowhere! Die in a fi-OW! You punched me!?" Issei went on a tirade before cutting and clutching his face where Ichigo's fist had made contact, Asia Argento frantically fussing over him.

"Oops, my hand slipped." He shot back without even trying to sound convincing, earning him more than one dry look.

"Well, I can't exactly say he didn't deserve that…Still, he does bring up a good point, Shiba-kun. Miss…I'm sorry, I just realized I don't know your name."

"Oh, that's understandable. I don't believe I ever offered it. My name is Maria Eden, pleased to meet you."

"Ah, yes. Pleased to meet you as well. As I was saying, you popped up out of nowhere. I don't think anyone was even aware that Shiba-kun had a girlfriend before today."

"Probably because I don't feel the need to broadcast my personal life to the whole school. I fail to see how it concerns them whether or not I have a girlfriend."

"Hm…I suppose I can't argue with that. Still, I hope you don't mind my prying. Maria-san…your name is obviously foreign, and so are you, but your Japanese is quite notably flawless."

Ichigo frowned very slightly at the rather unsubtle attempt to get information out of them.

Had they caught the personal attention of the Gremory heiress?

Thankfully, they were saved from the interrogation when Kiba passed by.

"Oh, Buchou, and everyone. And Shiba-senpai too? Ah, and this must be the mysterious girlfriend that the school is in an uproar about."

"Ara, Yuuto. Here for a drink?"

"No, actually. I heard that there was a Mahou Shoujo photography session down the corridor, so I was going to check it out."

…What?

* * *

Ichigo scowled as the flashes of multiple cameras blinded him for a moment.

Once his vision returned, he was finally able to see what all the commotion was about.

And it was quite possibly the strangest sight he had come across since arriving in this world, bar Trihexa and Great Red.

A girl with black hair, tied in twintails, and blue eyes, dressed in a stereotypical Mahou Shoujo costume, complete with magic wand, was striking multiple poses as the students surrounding her snapped as many photos as they could.

That was already fairly strange on its own, but what made it even weirder was the reiatsu that he could sense coming from the girl.

She had a tremendous amount, matching and maybe even surpassing Kokabiel's.

The only reason he hadn't noticed it earlier was because his senses were too focused on Sirzechs Lucifer's ridiculous reiatsu and hadn't registered hers until he got close.

And the texture of her reiatsu…he could tell it was that of a Devil's, but there was something more.

It felt like ice.

Not like the gentle snowfall that Rukia's reiatsu felt like, belying the true danger hidden within, but like the raging blizzard that Toshiro's had been.

It probably wasn't too much of a stretch to say that this Devils specialized in using ice magic.

…Come to think of it, wasn't the current Leviathan also a powerful ice user…?

Ichigo's mind came to a screeching halt as he put 2 and 2 together.

" _Please don't tell me that's who I think it is."_

He turned to Deus Xiphos, hoping she would save his sanity, but judging by the look of surprise on her face, and the shock on the Gremory heiress's, there was probably no hope on that front.

" _That's her. Serafall Leviathan. Though I have to say, I don't remember her wearing a costume like that."_

That gave Ichigo just a tiny, tiny glimmer of hope that just maybe, insanity wasn't genetic among Devils, not that it mattered much when one of their leaders was a hopeless siscon and another was a cosplayer.

He hoped that they were at least capable of being professional when the situation called for it, or at the very least, that the other 2 were competent enough to make up for these 2.

Because otherwise, he had no idea how the Devils had survived this long.

" _Don't let their tomfoolery deceive you, my dear master. If it weren't for the current Yondai Maou, the rebellion against the Old Maou Faction would have failed spectacularly. Behind those facades lie hardened veterans."_

Listening to his partner's words, his posture straightened just a little more and he double checked to make sure that he wasn't leaking any reiatsu for them to sense.

He had managed to fool the young Devils so far, but the far more experienced Maou might be able to tell that he was hiding something if he wasn't careful.

In that regard, this new body that Great Red had made for him was particularly useful.

Not only was it capable of containing the absolutely ludicrous level of power he had now, whereas his original body, and everything else nearby, would probably have disintegrated from mere proximity, but the Ultimate Dragon had apparently guessed his intentions in this world and made sure his body did not naturally leak any more reiatsu than an average human unless he willed it to do so, and that said reiatsu would not contain any traces of his true nature, divine or otherwise.

"Hey, what's going on here!? Don't crowd and block the corridor like this!"

The secretary of the student council, whose first name he still could not remember, came across the scene and quickly moved to disperse the crowd, aided by the other members of Sona Sitri's peerage.

And not too far behind them was their master, accompanied by Sirzechs Lucifer and his father.

That was his cue to leave.

He didn't care how perfect the concealment of his reiatsu was, he was not comfortable with voluntarily being in close proximity with one of the leaders of the Three Factions.

"Looks like this is about to become a mess I want no part of, so I'll see you in class, Gremory-san, Himejima-san." Ichigo said as he turned on his heel.

"O-Oh, yes. We'll see you later, Shiba-kun."

He waved a hand in acknowledgement as he and his partner walked back towards the vending machine.

He still wanted his damn coffee.

* * *

Xenovia honestly had no idea what to make of the letter she was reading.

After Kokabiel's sudden defeat, she and Irina had retrieved the cores of the broken Excalibur Fragments, as well as Valper Galilei's corpse, and returned to the Vatican.

Their bosses had predictably showered them with praises and congratulations, promising to reward them handsomely for their success.

Those words rang hollow to her ears.

Kokabiel's revelation had utterly shattered any faith she had in the institution she worked for.

Not in the Lord, though.

Her faith in God would never waver.

After all, who else could have had the power to strike a leader of the Grigori down in a single blow?

Who else could have commanded such a pure light that even the likes of Durandal paled in comparison?

However, Kokabiel's words had sounded genuine to her.

He had truly believed that God had died.

So, either he was delusional, or he was telling the truth.

She had been banking towards the former, but the slightest possibility of the latter being true gnawed away at her, that kernel of doubt refusing to stay quiet.

She wanted to demand the truth from her superiors, but there was one problem.

Irina.

She had been unconscious at the time of Kokabiel's declaration, which she was thankful for.

The Protestant's faith in God was even greater than hers, and if she had heard about his death, she might have been completely broken.

So, she waited for her to return to England first before finally confronting her bosses.

And they pretty much confirmed her worst fears.

They hadn't said anything explicitly, but the initial frightened silence and subsequent suspiciously specific denials and accusations of heresy were answer enough.

In the days that followed, she became ostracized within the church.

Well, more ostracized than she already had been before.

And her only real supporters, Dulio Gesualdo and Sister Griselda, were out on their own missions at the time.

That must have been what it was like for Asia Argento when she was branded a witch, causing her to feel bad for the harsh words she had spoken to her on their first meeting.

She figured it was only a matter of time before they made her excommunication official, so she cut her losses and bailed before it could happen.

She hadn't really known where to go, the church having been her only home for as long as she could remember, but it didn't take her too long to choose to return to Kuou for a few reasons.

One, since Kuou was the territory of the little sisters of the current Lucifer and Leviathan, the church couldn't easily lay their hands on her there to take Durandal back from her, especially not so soon after Kokabiel had almost restarted the Great War.

Two, though they were technically enemies, there was something to be said for camaraderie forged in the heat of battle, so she thought that they might let her stay.

Three…well, she always wanted to experience what it was like to be a normal girl for a change, going to school and making friends, and not risking her life trying to kill some unholy creature every other week.

The Gremory and Sitri heiresses had facilitated her admission into the school with surprisingly little resistance, and she joined Hyoudou Issei and Asia Argento in their class.

Of course, they revealed their true intentions soon after, each individually offering her a place in their peerages.

She had expected it of course. The thought of acquiring Durandal's current wielder was just too tempting.

Especially considering what her predecessor had accomplished.

Vasco Strada was possibly the strongest exorcist that ever existed in the church's long history.

Wielding Durandal in his prime, he exterminated hordes of the church's enemies, including several Ultimate-Class Devils.

And at the height of World War II, he had beaten Kokabiel to a pulp.

Even now, in his old age, he was probably still stronger than any exorcist alive, with the possible exception of Dulio Gesualdo, the current wielder of the second strongest Longinus, Zenith Tempest.

The only reason he wasn't still wielding the Peerless Holy Sword was because he felt that he was doing it a disservice by continuing to use it past his prime.

If she had even a portion of that talent, she would be an invaluable asset.

She declined both of them.

Her faith in the church was broken, but her faith in God was as strong as ever.

If that blast of light that had defeated Kokabiel was any indication, then perhaps the Lord was still alive.

As long as that possibility existed, she would never turn her back on him.

She had expected some sort of retribution for her refusal, but it appeared that they had simply taken it in stride, considering that nothing had happened in the days following.

But, something else arrived.

The letter she was holding.

An invitation to attend the upcoming conference between the leaders of the Three Factions.

Moreover, the one who had penned this letter was none other than the Archangel Michael himself, judging by the signature at the bottom.

She had encountered exactly one Angel in her life, a two-winged one, the equivalent of a Low to Middle-Class Devil, and had never forgotten what her aura had been like.

The traces of the aura clinging to the letter was many times more potent, dispelling any scepticism as to the credibility of the letter.

But, she had no idea why the acting leader of Heaven, as Kokabiel had called him, was personally inviting her, an excommunicated exorcist, to the very important meeting.

If it was just for a recount of the events that had transpired during the mission, he could have just called in Irina, who had been there for all of it but the end, and was still a member of the church as far as she knew.

Even if it was for the last part that Irina had been unconscious for, it made more sense to call in the Gremory and Sitri heiresses who were the little sister of two of the current Maous, and thus far more important than her.

The Archangel's motives were completely unfathomable to her.

…Perhaps she should seek a second opinion.

Now that classes were over for the day, the Gremory peerage were probably at the old school building.

But, as it turned out, she didn't have to go that far to find them.

They ran right into each other at the entrance of the new school building.

"Oh, Xenovia, good timing! We were just looking for you!" Hyoudou Issei, followed closely by Asia Argento and Toujou Koneko, greeted her.

The sheer coincidence surprised her so much that the matter of the letter slipped her mind.

"Really? What for?"

"Uh…hold on. Oi, Gasper! Get out of there already!" Issei started yelling at the large cardboard box that Koneko was carrying.

For a moment, Xenovia thought that the Sekiryuutei had finally lost his marbles.

And then the cardboard box answered back.

"Nooooooooooo! I don't want to! The outside world is too scary!" A muffled voice screamed from inside the box.

In response to it, Koneko held the box out and turned it over, causing its occupant to tumble out onto the floor with a painful thud.

"Ow! Koneko-chan, you're too mean!"

It was a teenage girl…no, a boy dressed in the academy's female uniform, judging by the prominent Adam's Aaple, with neck length blonde hair and red eyes.

She tensed for a moment when she saw the elongated incisors as he spoke.

A vampire.

No, judging by his aura, a vampire reincarnated into a Devil?

And since he showed no signs of taking any damage despite the sun still being up, he must be a Daywalker.

Xenovia wasn't particularly fond of vampires, not since she was almost killed by one a few years back.

It had been a fairly embarrassing situation.

It wasn't too long after she and Irina had partnered up.

They were sent to exterminate a rogue vampire that had killed and turned all the inhabitants of a small rural town.

It hadn't been very strong, but it had almost killed her when it happened to grab her then long hair, causing her to completely lose her balance.

That would have been the end of her if Irina had not been there to save her.

That incident was what prompted her to cut her hair down to its current length.

"Anyway, this is Gasper Vladi, Buchou's other Bishop. He has a Sacred Gear that he can't control, and Buchou put us in charge of his training, so we were hoping you could help us out?"

She blinked.

"You…want me to help? Really?"

"Yeah! We're friends, right?"

Beside him, Asia Argento beamed, and even the normally stoic Koneko acknowledged his statement with a nod.

Xenovia cracked a smile.

Most people would consider such a straight forward personality foolish, but she couldn't but feel that it suited Hyoudou Issei perfectly.

If he wasn't a Devil, she might actually be actively seeking his progeny.

The genes of a Heavenly Dragon were far too potent to pass up otherwise.

"Well, I don't mind, but what exactly do you want me to do? I don't have a Sacred Gear, so I'm not sure I'll be able to help."

"Well, since you've trained to control Durandal, we were hoping you could teach some of that control to Gasper."

"You're being way too generous calling it control. You already saw that I have to keep Durandal sealed outside of battle. If I didn't, its destructive power would rampage and destroy everything around me. Even in battle, I have to be careful, or it would just do as it pleased."

"Ah…so, it's no good, huh?"

"Sorry." She sincerely apologized, feeling bad for having them come all the way to find her only for her to be of no help.

A sniffle brought her attention back to the vampire, who had yet to get up from the floor.

Somehow, the sight was starting to annoy her in a different way from before.

A spineless male was not something she could abide by.

"Well, I don't think I can help him control his Sacred Gear, but how about I knock some manliness into him? Who knows? A bit of a backbone might help him gain some control."

Issei immediately perked up, his expression brightening.

"Hey, that's a great idea!"

"Nooooooooooo! I'll be killed! Save me, Koneko-chan!"

"…Good luck, Gya-kun." The Rook said as she offered him a thumbs-up.

"Koneko-chan, you traitor!" The vampire wailed.

"Well then, it's settled. Let's get started, shall we?"

Xenovia held a hand up as she began to chant under her breath.

A distortion in space appeared in the air.

She reached her hand into it and pulled out a massive blade that was almost as long as she was tall.

The Devils' expressions became more strained as Durandal's wild holy aura began to bore down on the area.

"Um…wait, don't you think that using Durandal might be overdoing it a little?" Issei asked, looking more than a little perturbed.

"Don't you know, Issei?"

She brandished the Peerless Holy Sword at Gasper, who looked like he was about to soil himself.

"Fear is a powerful motivator. Now, start running!"

The vampire's screams soon filled the air.

It would be a few hours before Xenovia remembered the matter of the letter.

* * *

Azazel languished in his seat as he listened to Rias Gremory's and Sona Sitri's recount of the events that had transpired during Kokabiel's attack.

Seated around the round table with him was Michael, his dear brother and the representative of Heaven, and Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan, from the Devils' side.

Sirzechs' wife and Queen, Grayfia Lucifuge, attended to their refreshments, refilling their tea once she saw that their cups were nearly empty, while the two Maous' little sisters and their respective peerages sat behind them.

Behind Michael was Sophiel, one of Heaven's Powers and the Archangel's most trusted lieutenant during the Great War.

Standing with her was Xenovia, one of the exorcists that the church had sent on the suicide mission to retrieve the Excalibur Fragments.

She looked extremely uncomfortable, which was understandable, considering the way she had unofficially departed from the church.

Azazel privately thought that she had been clever, leaving on her own accord and returning to Kuou.

It spared her from whatever ridiculous punishments her former bosses would have thought up to keep her knowledge of God's death quiet.

That whole thing had apparently flown under Michael's radar, with how busy the Archangel had been preparing for this conference on his end, and he had apparently only learned of her departure long after she had settled in Kuou.

And standing behind him, leaning against the far wall, was Vali, the current Hakuryuukou and his protégé, looking completely unconcerned.

"Thank you, Rias, Sona. However, before we dismiss you, there is one detail we would like to confirm with you two. It was included in your official reports, but we would prefer to hear it from your own mouths."

Azazel sat up straighter.

One of the most important points of this meeting was being brought up after all.

Something he couldn't pretend that he was not concerned of.

"Xenovia, this is something we would like to ask you as well." Michael said solemnly, his green gaze unreadable as he turned to the exorcist, who went ramrod straight at being personally addressed.

"Oi, Vali, you got there in time to see it, right? Tell us too."

"What was the color of the light that struck Kokabiel down?"

All three leaders echoed the exact same question.

A brief silence passed before an answer came from the five people who had been asked.

"It was white." All five answered.

Azazel's hands tightened around the armrests of his chair.

It was the answer he had already been expecting, but actually hearing it was…

"How is that possible…? Azazel, Sophiel and I were all there that day. We saw Father die with our own eyes. There can no doubt that he is dead." Michael breathed, an array of emotions going through his eyes.

Grief, confusion, anger, joy, hope and despair, all at once.

"And yet, the evidence we have been presented with suggests a different story." Sirzechs said, he and Serafall looking grim.

A wave of confusion ran through the young Devils and the single exorcist in the room.

Azazel decided to provide a bit of helpful exposition for them.

"Oi, all of you have seen the light that Angels and Fallen Angels can use, right? Noticed how each of them has a different color?"

Confused on where he was taking this, the Devils nodded uncertainly.

"Every Angel, Fallen or not, have a color of light that is unique to each of us, but for all intents and purposes, it's nothing more than an aesthetic property. The light of every Angel and Fallen Angel functions in the same basic way, though each of us uses it in a different way depending on our fighting styles. For example, I prefer a mass bombardment of hundreds of small light spears, Michael favors a blade of light so thin and fast that no one sees it coming, and that idiot Kokabiel liked throwing around giant spears. Compensating for something, no doubt."

His light-hearted tone soon became serious, causing a massive change in the overall mood of the room.

"However, despite the assortment of colors we have, not a single Angel or Fallen Angel has pure white light."

Michael nodded.

"Pure white light, the First Light, is something that only God himself is capable of using. Even we of the Ten Seraphs, who had been called the closest to God, cannot use it. It is a thing of primordial origins, fundamentally different from the light of Angels and Fallen Angels. It is the reason why the color white has a special meaning within the Three Factions. Utter purity and perfection. The color we have come to associate with God, and only God."

"And therein lies our problem, as you can see. God is dead, that is an undeniable truth that can be backed up by three of us here. And yet, it was God's unique light that struck Kokabiel down, in the form of one of his most favoured techniques, Ain Soph Aur, the Light of Judgment, no less. That too is true, as all of you can attest to. These two truths coexist in complete contradiction with each other. And for the life of us, we cannot figure out how that is possible." Sirzechs continued.

"…Is it possible that God did not die at the end of the Great War, but instead faked his death for whatever reason?" Rias proposed.

"No, that cannot be. If it was simply a matter of God faking his death, the world's balance would not have suffered the way it did. Contradictory existences like Kiba Yuuto-kun's Holy-Demonic Sword would not have manifested at all."

"Then, perhaps a new God has come into existence? It's not impossible. The physical forms of Gods are sustained by the faith of their believers, and right now, Christianity is the most prevalent religion in the world. If enough faith has been gathered, it is possible that God has gained a new body." Serafall suggested.

"Then, why has he not returned? As soon as we sensed the First Light, we Seraphs rushed to the Seventh Heaven, but it was as empty as it was after Father's death. And there were no changes in God's System or the Sacred Gear System either." Michael said with a heavy sigh.

There were too many possibilities to consider, and without any more leads, it was impossible to narrow it down.

A heavy atmosphere settled over the room as its occupants mulled over the conundrum.

Then, Azazel spoke.

"Does it really matter right now?"

Everyone else in the room turned to stare at him, not quite comprehending his words.

"Does it truly matter whether or not God is alive? Would it have any effect on the outcome on this conference? I don't think so. Let's suppose that God is indeed alive. Even now, when the leaders of the Three Factions are meeting, with what amounts to a small army from each side on standby, he has chosen not to show himself. The only time he chose to intervene personally was when Kokabiel was on the verge of starting the next Great War by killing off Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri. And, he chose to strike Kokabiel and only Kokabiel down, when there were no less than a dozen Devils, including the Sekiryuutei, in the immediate area. In that case, can't we infer that his intentions are the same as ours? Peace."

His words evidently had a profound effect on the other leaders.

"In fact, as I recall way back when, God never had any interest in going to war with the Devils to begin with. The only reason the Great War started was because of the Seraphs and the original Maous."

A pained look overcame Michael's gentle features.

"…We were a much more ornery bunch back then. And we simply could not forgive Helel for betraying Father."

Now that was a name Azazel hadn't heard in a while.

It probably wasn't too well known among the current generation who didn't look deep enough into the history of the Three Factions, but Lucifer was the original name of the Prince of Lies.

It was kinda obvious, considering 'Lucifer' did not even come anywhere close to the naming of other Angels and Fallen Angels, all of which ended in '-el'.

Back when Lucifer was still ranked among the Seraphs and known as the most beautiful Angel among the Heavenly Host, his name was Helel, the Light Bringer, whose mastery over light was matched only by Michael and surpassed only by God himself.

It was only when he was cast down that God stripped him of his halo, his glorious golden wings, and the name that he was no longer worthy of, and the being that had become the first Devil named himself Lucifer.

And yet, Lucifer had been the only one who God had deigned to personally cast down.

The Fallen Angels, the first of which had been Azazel himself, were simply dealt with by the system he had created, removing their halo and turning their wings black.

The sheer indignity of not even being worthy of his attention when they betrayed him…that might have been part of the reason why the Fallen Angels to join in the Great War as the third faction.

A silly attempt at trying to get Daddy's attention.

"Well, I'm not really in a position to be criticizing you either. The Grigori just ended up making everything worse back then." Azazel sighed, feeling every bit as old as he actually was.

"You truly do not appreciate what you have until it's already gone. But perhaps it is because of that loss that our eyes have finally been opened. Heaven's only desire now is to watch over humanity, the same way God had. We have no desire to go to war again."

"It is the same for us Devils. Engaging in pointless conflict will only thin out our already small numbers. Another war would ensure the end of our kind regardless of the outcome."

"That goes for all of us. Even now, we still haven't recovered from the losses we suffered in the Great War. Another conflict would mean the end of all Three Factions."

"This is surely what God wished to teach us. The pointlessness of war. The cost was truly great, but…I believe we finally understand."

"The only thing to do now…is to move forward. With or without God."

Those words deeply resonated with everyone in the room.

The time for them to act like entitled children had long passed.

As their leaders, they had a responsibility to the rest of their kind.

It had been a very long time, but Azazel could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And then the world froze.

* * *

Ichigo scowled as he watched the siege on the conference through pericognition.

He had pretty much figured that not everyone would be happy with the idea of making peace with their longtime enemies, but he hadn't thought they would actually be brazen enough to launch an attack on the meeting place where the leaders were currently converged.

They must have been incredibly stupid.

Leaving the others aside, exactly how were they planning to beat the Crimson Lucifer, who could rank in the World's Top 10 Strongest?

The members of the siege were barely any stronger than the average Shinno Academy graduate, and their leader of the siege, a descendant of the original Leviathan, was at the level of a Captain at best, even with that power boost she got.

And Khaos Brigade? Talk about a tacky name.

Though their leader was definitely problematic.

"To think the Infinite has finally broken its long silence in this manner…" Deus Xiphos sighed, looking distinctly worried.

According to Azazel and Katerea Leviathan, the leader of Khaos Brigade was Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God who was known as the Strongest Existence.

Outside of Great Red and himself.

Why would the World's Strongest even need to create an organization of such low level peons anyway?

Katerea Leviathan had mentioned that Ophis was more of a figurehead than anything else, but what exactly could they have offered the Ouroboros to associate itself with them in the first place?

"Who knows? I've never met Ophis before, so I can't even begin to fathom its thought process. More importantly, shouldn't we be concentrating on the attack happening in front of us right now?"

"Hm. I don't see a need to intervene this time. None of the opposition seems like they could pose any threat with the firepower the Three Factions have on their side."

And of course, no sooner than those words had left his mouth did something unexpected happened.

Azazel was blindsided while trouncing Katerea Leviathan, sending him flying into the side of the old school building, where Hyoudou Issei and Rias Gremory were emerging from after rescuing the recently unsealed Bishop, Gasper Vladi.

And his attacker was…

"The Lucifer kid, huh? Looks like betraying their father figure is a family tradition."

Deus Xiphos had noticed that the current Hakuryuukou was a half-human, half-Devil descendant of the Morning Star from the moment they lay eyes on him during the Kokabiel incident.

She had hoped that human blood would be able to temper the treachery of the Lucifer lineage, but it appeared that there was no such luck.

And as he listened to the Hakuryuukou's motivations, he rolled his eyes.

Of course, there just had to be someone in this world with Kenpachi's battle lust.

Was that really reason enough to betray the man who had raised him from childhood?

They watched as Azazel moved to deal with Katerea Leviathan once and for all, while Vali Lucifer taunted Hyoudou Issei, driving his rival into a rage by threatening his parents.

Using a device that Azazel gave him, the Sekiryuutei was able to enter an incomplete Balance Breaker to challenge the Hakuryuukou.

However, the odds were stacked against him.

Unlike Hyoudou Issei, who was born an unremarkable human, Vali Lucifer was born with an abundance of talent as a descendant of the Prince of Lies.

And unlike the Sekiryuutei's incomplete Boosted Gear Scale Mail, the Hakuryuukou's Divine Dividing Scale Mail was complete, and judging by the fluidity of his movements while using it, he obviously has experience using it.

Logic dictated that Hyoudou Issei would be defeated by his rival.

And for the few minutes of the battle, it seemed that it was the way it was going to go, the Hakuryuukou effortlessly playing with him, continuously halving his power and stealing it while the Sekiryuutei desperately tried to maintain his own power level with Boosting.

Even then, Ichigo did not feel the need to intervene just yet.

Even if Hyoudou Issei was defeated, Michael, Azazel and Serafall Leviathan were still there, each with enough power to contend with Vali Lucifer.

But if worse came to worst and even the three of them fell to him, then…that was a whole different story.

The current Lucifer was far stronger than the descendant of the original, but the battle between them would more than likely level the town, and possibly most of the region.

And then Hyoudou Issei surprised him.

With a level of intelligence and instinct that he had not expected from the boy who only ever seemed to have breasts on his mind, Hyoudou Issei created an opening by transferring the stored power in Boosted Gear to Ascalon, the Dragon Slaying Holy Sword gifted to him by Michael, stored in his left gauntlet, increasing its effectiveness against draconic opponents and cladding his fist in dragon slaying aura.

Said fist slammed into Vali Lucifer's helm with resounding force, cracking it and causing its occupant to double over at the unexpected pain.

And as he was in that vulnerable position, Hyoudou Issei applied the doubling ability of Boosted Gear to the wings of Vali Lucifer's Scale Mail, which functioned as the exhaust to vent excess power that the Hakuryuukou could not store, accelerating its exhaust speed and causing Vali Lucifer's power to drop rapidly.

With his power trickling away faster than he could recover it, and the dragon slaying aura that surrounded Hyoudou Issei's left fist, they were suddenly on a more even playing field.

But, even now, the Sekiryuutei remained at a disadvantage, being on a mere 15 minute time limit.

Issei seemed to realize that as well, and his response was to slam one of Divine Dividing Scale Mail's jewels, dislodged in the heat of battle, into his right gauntlet.

Even Ichigo was awed by the boy's sheer recklessness.

Much like Holy and Demonic energy, the powers of the Welsh Dragon and the Vanishing Dragon were polar opposites.

He supposed Issei must have drawn inspiration from Yuuto's Holy-Demonic Sword, and was trying to achieve something similar.

And admittedly, since the ratio wasn't 1:1, since a single jewel could only contain a small amount of Albion's power, it might actually work.

However, the power of the Heavenly Dragons, even suppressed as they were within their respective Sacred Gears, were not something to be taken lightly.

Especially when the vessel was Hyoudou Issei's far too average body.

It was stupid.

It was suicidal.

And it was like something Ichigo would have done in the past if the need had arisen.

Ichigo's fist clenched.

He did not think they could be any more different from each other, but right now, he couldn't help but see just a bit of his past self in the Sekiryuutei.

The Ichigo who wasn't crushed by the loss he had suffered.

And suddenly, it felt like his heart was clenching as tightly as his fist.

Deus Xiphos wrapped her arms around him gently.

"We can stop watching." She suggested.

"…No, I'm fine. I'm seeing this through to the end." Ichigo said firmly as he took a deep breath and continued watching the battle between the destined rivals.

Boosted Gear Scale Mail's right gauntlet had turned the exact same shade of white as Divine Dividing Scale Mail's, complete with a blue jewel.

It appeared that Issei had succeeded in assimilating a bit of Albion's power into himself.

Vali laughed uproariously and declared that he would now be taking the battle a bit more seriously.

He proceeded to show off a little by halving the size of a nearby grove of trees.

And Azazel, who had dealt with the descendant of the original Leviathan, though losing an arm in the process, interjected with some nonsense about Rias Gremory's breasts being halved in size.

For a reason, nothing happened, both Heavenly Dragons just staring at the Viceroy of the Grigori in incomprehension.

And then Issei's reiatsu skyrocketed as he flew into an even greater rage than before, destroying his immediate surroundings with the sheer power he was now releasing.

He proceeded to beat Vali down in a decidedly one-sided manner, all the while screaming about breasts.

Ichigo's mind paused as he tried to process the sheer absurdity of the scene.

"…Seriously, what is happening right now?" Deus Xiphos asked, sounding just as incredulous as he felt.

"I…think we're seeing something completely outrageous."

But even after a sound beating, the Hakuryuukou stood back up, laughing even harder than before.

[I, who am about to awaken-]

Vali began to chant ominous words.

Ichigo felt a chill run down his spine.

"This is bad, master! He's going to activate Juggernaut Drive!"

Ichigo jolted as he heard his partner's words.

Juggernaut Drive.

It was one of the abilities of Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing, a last resort that released a great portion of the Heavenly Dragon's sealed power, but costing their wielder their life force and depriving them of their sanity in the process.

If Vali Lucifer, with his already considerable power, were to use Juggernaut Drive, he would cause untold levels of collateral damage.

In the worst scenario, the barrier separating the school grounds from the outside world would shatter and spread the damage even further.

…No, the worst case scenario was that Issei would also be forced, willingly or not, to activate his own Juggernaut Drive.

One was already bad enough, but both?

Japan would be lucky to remain intact.

Ichigo's scowl deepened.

To think he would have to intervene again so soon after the last time…!

But, there was no choice.

The alternative was allowing the country to fall to ruin.

Having already used it once, Ichigo did not have much difficulty tapping into the First Light that was the source of God's powers.

He raised his hand, preparing to send down the Light of Judgment once more, this time to strike the Hakuryuukou down.

And someone swooped in, stopping Vali in the middle of his chant.

Ichigo's concentration broke in the process of calling down Ain Soph Aur, causing the light that had been gathering in the heavens above to dissipate.

It was a red-headed young man, wearing an outfit that wouldn't have been out of place in the Three Kingdoms era in China, and wielding a golden rod as a weapon.

He cheerfully told Vali that he had come to pick him up, causing the Hakuryuukou to look rather put out.

However, the tension left his stance, and Ichigo could tell that he had no intention to continue fighting.

Azazel then revealed the man's name to be Bikou, the descendant of Son Goku, or rather, Sun Wukong, as he was known as in his country of origin, the legendary monkey demon who embarked on the iconic Journey to the West and became a Buddha.

A magic circle appeared beneath the pair, clearly intended to teleport them elsewhere.

Issei attempted to stop them, but at that moment, he hit his limit, his Balance Breaker disappearing in a flash of red light, causing him to collapse in exhaustion.

And then the Hakuryuukou and the descendant of the Victorious Fighting Buddha vanished, leaving behind only a promise of a rematch in the near future.

Just like that, the siege was over.

Ichigo felt an inordinate amount of exhaustion as he ended his pericognition.

It had been a close call, but they had somehow managed to avoid the worst.

But, this had been the second time in less than a month.

Dammit, he needed a break.

* * *

Azazel's eyes searched the sky above Kuou Academy.

Khaos Brigade's siege had ended just a while ago, and the armies of the Three Factions were in the process of cleaning up the corpses that littered the schoolgrounds, that of both their enemies and their fallen comrades.

The leaders were due back in the meeting room to confirm the last few details of the treaty between them before putting it all in writing and signing it off.

But before that, there was something he needed to confirm for himself.

During the scant few seconds that Vali had begun chanting the activation verse for Juggernaut Drive, and boy, hadn't that been an unpleasant shock, he had felt a very familiar power gathering in the sky right above him.

Issei and Vali hadn't seemed to notice, too focused on each other, but he had, and he knew that Michael, Sophiel, Sirzechs and Serafall had as well.

The familiar energies of the First Light, coalescing into the Light of Judgment.

It had dissipated right after Bikou appeared, but it had been around long enough for Azazel to know that it had indeed been God's unique light.

Which supported the theory that God was alive in some way.

And that he too was in favour of peace between the Three Factions, judging by how he had only acted when Vali was on the verge of activating Juggernaut Drive and stopping when he hadn't.

Azazel wondered if Vali had any idea just how lucky he really was to have been interrupted.

Not even the Scale Mail would have been able to protect him from being killed by the Light of Judgment, especially considering his Devil lineage.

And Azazel was glad he survived.

 _After all, Vali hadn't actually betrayed him._

Shortly after retrieving Kokabiel, Vali came to him and revealed that the Old Maou Faction had offered him a place in Khaos Brigade, dangling the possibility of fighting the Aesir Gods in front of him to sweeten the deal.

The Hakuryuukou would have been lying if he claimed to not have been tempted, because he was, but in the end, his loyalty to Azazel won out over his battle lust.

But Azazel had seen an opportunity in that offer.

An opportunity to get an informant in the ranks of the terrorist organization.

So, Azazel asked Vali to accept the offer and spy for him.

They needed information, especially on Ophis' motives.

What could have spurred the Infinity into action after all this time?

Vali agreed, and thus the whole charade just now.

He didn't think the little shit would actually attack him so seriously though.

Damn, that had hurt.

But, it had gotten the job done.

Azazel had no intention of telling anyone else.

This would remain his dirty little secret.

At least for now.

After all, he still had no idea who he could trust, even among the Grigori.

His fellow leaders, and those of the Underworld and Heaven, definitely, but he had no idea whether those they would disseminate that information to could be trusted.

Khaos Brigade's sympathisers could be anywhere.

That, and Vali's intentions weren't exactly altruistic either.

He seriously intended to fight any strong opponents Khaos Brigade threw him up against regardless of the consequences, and he had seriously fought Hyoudou Issei earlier too.

Whether they liked it or not, Vali was now officially a terrorist.

He didn't like putting his son in such a dangerous position, but it was necessary for the sake of peace.

Speaking of which, he had a treaty to sign.

Azazel turned around and began to head back to the meeting room.

The traces of the First Light had long vanished by now, and there was nothing further to be gained by standing around.

Still, he looked back at the sky out of the corner of his eye.

The matter of Ophis and Khaos Brigade took precedence, no doubt.

But he would have to look into this matter too.

* * *

"Xenovia."

The young former exorcist froze as Archangel Michael addressed her suddenly.

"Y-Yes sir!"

The current leader of Heaven chuckled.

"No need to be so formal. I wish to apologize for how poorly your matter was handled by your superiors in the Vatican. No matter the reason, treating a loyal believer in such a horrid manner was definitely not the right call."

"I-It's fine, Lord Michael. I understand. I…also did not approach it the way I should have. Something as heretical as the death of God is not something to be broached so bluntly. And now that I know the reason for my excommunication, I've made my peace with it."

"An admirable outlook. Still, I would like to make it up to you. So, I now present you with an offer."

Xenovia tilted her head in confusion.

"Offer?"

"As you know, the Underworld has supplementing its ranks using their Evil Pieces to reincarnate humans into Devils. While we had spoken out against it, the method had intrigued us. So, we too began looking into a way to reincarnate humans into Angels. Unfortunately, some of our best researchers fell during the Great War, and many others Fell, now counting among the ranks of the Grigori, so our progress had been slow. However, with the new treaty in effect, we will be receiving aid from Ajuka Beelzebub and his team who invented the Evil Piece system. I expect that we will soon be able to complete our project."

As he spoke, Xenovia's eyebrows slowly rose, all the way up to her hairline.

Was he offering what she thought he was offering?

"Xenovia, when it is complete, will you become one of my Reincarnated Angels, one of my Brave Saints?"

And just like that, a door to the future had been thrown open for her.

"It would be my honor, Lord Michael!"

* * *

Ichigo fell back on his bed, exhaustion permeating his body.

Deus Xiphos lay beside him, looking similarly tired.

The last few days had been nerve-wracking.

Treaty or not, he had not been expecting Azazel to join Kuou Academy's faculty as a teacher.

He only had one or two classes with him before school let out for summer vacation, but he had been terrified every time of being found out.

After, no one was more familiar with God than his followers.

The only way it could have been worse was if it had been one of the Seraphs.

Thankfully, it appeared that Azazel didn't think of him as anything more than an ordinary, if physically and academically talented student.

But, Deus Xiphos could not easily leave the sanctity of their well-warded home anymore.

Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan had been one thing, since neither of them had ever laid eyes on the Sword of God before, but Azazel had spent a good deal of time at God's side, and by extension, hers as well, before falling.

He would definitely recognize the feel of her reiatsu, human disguise or not.

She was good at suppressing it, but it was impossible to make it completely unperceivable.

All he had to do was get close enough to feel it, and the jig was up.

Thankfully, it appeared that they would be able to take a breather during summer vacation, since the Gremory peerage intended to spend it training in the Underworld, and Azazel was going with them.

So, about 40 days of peace before going back to walking on eggshells.

He better make them count.

"So, any suggestions for where to spend our summer vacation? Spending all of it here is a waste, and I think we would both like a break from this trouble magnet of a town."

"Hm…spending it in a single location sounds pretty dreary too, so how about we just pick a first destination and go from there?"

"Such as…?"

"How about Kyoto?"

"The ancient capital, huh? Eh, why not. Never been there in my world."

He really should have ben paying attention to her at that moment.

Because if he had, he would have seen the impish smile on her face.

For a creation of the paragon of all that was good, she could be pretty diabolical at times.

* * *

Thank god this chapter is finally done!

Could you guys tell that it fought me all the way?

This is one of those chapters I loathe to write, the kind where nothing all that different from canon occurs, and you wish you could skip it, but you can't because it's integral to the story and you just have to slough your way through it.

It was torture writing this chapter, and probably even more for you guys to read it.

Maybe I'll revisit this chapter at some point, but for now, I'm just glad to be done with it.

It wasn't all bad, it was pretty fun writing Xenovia's perspective.

In canon, Kokabiel's declaration would have completely broken her and lead her to joining the Gremory peerage, but since she witnessed the splendour of Ain Soph Aur, her faith wasn't completely shattered, which led to her leaving the church but not becoming a Devil, as you can see here.

And now she's on her way to becoming a Brave Saint.

Now that'll be fun.

Another, tinier change is that Vali isn't a real traitor, which is the only way I can think of that explains why he becomes so cordial towards Issei so quickly.

Being an actual traitor just didn't make sense, given his loyalty to Azazel.

The next 2 or 3 chapters, taking place over summer vacation, will be a breath of fresh air, since the Gremory peerage will be busy in the Underworld and Ichigo won't have anything to do with the events of Volume 5, so it'll be mostly original content.

And the first place Ichigo will be heading is Kyoto, so Youkai involvement is expected.

After that, I'm still deciding, but it definitely won't be in Japan.

That's it for this chapter.

Now, about my other stories.

Hellfire and Kill the Other World will definitely be back, though how soon, I don't know.

I'm still drawing a huge blank on Summer Cloud and Fangs of Fenrir, so sorry to fans of those stories.

As for Black Joker and Dragon Emperor of the Heavenly Storm…

You know those embarrassing things you do in your teenage years that you don't think much of at the time, but then you grow up and remember them and wish you could go back in time to brutally murder your teenage self for doing said embarrassing things in the first place?

Yeah, that's kind of what those 2 stories are to me, my embarrassing earlier works that I wish I could bury six feet under.

I don't think I'll ever be going back to them, and if I do, it'll probably be a massive rewrite.

For example, Ichigo in Black Joker won't suddenly join the church for no reason, hell, he might not even have True Longinus, and Issei in Dragon Emperor won't be acting like such an edgelord.

I think that's all.

As always, please read and review.


	4. Chapter 3

Ichigo stared at the magnificent landscape of the ancient city that once served as the country's capital as well as the former residence of the royal family.

However, his gaze was not admiring, but rather, hard and extremely irritated.

He was not taking in the scenery.

He was preoccupied with the sheer amount of power running in the earth beneath the city, pooling in certain points within the ancient capital.

A level of spiritual energy that was completely unheard of in his reality's human world.

Not even Karakura, which had been built right on top of the Jureichi, had such a strong concentration.

If Hollows existed in this world, they would be swarming Kyoto in droves.

Kuou had been weird and a trouble magnet in its own right, but with this much power right beneath Kyoto, he had a hard time believing that the Three Factions hadn't tried occupying the ancient capital.

Unless it had already been claimed by another Faction.

And judging by the number and variety of non-human reiatsu scattered throughout the city, it probably was.

This…was very far from the relaxing vacation he had in mind.

He turned to glare at the one who suggested that they start their holiday here.

Deus Xiphos looked like she was barely holding in her laughter, her cheeks puffed up as she tried not to let a sound out.

"Really?"

In hindsight, he should have seen this coming.

As kind as she usually was, she did so love pulling these practical jokes on him every so often, like she had when she crashed the class visitation.

Especially when she was bored.

And being cooped up in the apartment for the last week or so to avoid Azazel's detection would cause no end of boredom.

"Oh, relax, would you? I admit, they used to be a wild bunch back when they had no clear leadership and the Shinto Gods cared little to reign them in. But, after close calls with some very dangerous Youkai, like Yamata-no-Orochi, Tamamo-no-Mae and Emperor Sutoku, Amaterasu finally got tired of their antics and established the two Youkai Factions to keep them in check, one led by the Kyuubi Clan, based here in Kyoto, with jurisdiction over western and southern Japan, and the other led by Nurarihyon and his Hyakki Yakou, based in Tokyo and governing eastern and northern Japan. Since then, they've become a rather passive and reclusive lot. They've holed up in secluded settlements either far from human civilization or in their own little pocket dimensions, and the few of them who actually live among humans do a good job of blending in. As long as you don't go looking for trouble, we should be fine."

Oh, he didn't think that was the problem.

He never went looking for trouble.

More often than not, trouble found him.

He would have liked nothing more than to get back on the Shinkansen and go anywhere but here, but the tickets didn't come cheap, and he had to admit that Kyoto was a beautiful place whether it was a supernatural hotspot or not.

"…Fine. Just know that any mess we get into is on you."

"Stop being such a sour puss. Now, we're going to the hotel to put down our bags, and then we're going to have fun! Nothing bad is going to happen, you'll see!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes.

He really wished he could be that optimistic.

* * *

Kunou, daughter and sole child of the leader of the Kyoto Youkai, the venerable Kyuubi Yasaka, destined to one day take the helm from her mother and govern the thousands of Youkai living in the western and southern regions of Japan, was experiencing a conundrum.

One that she could see two solutions to, but neither of which particularly pleased her.

She stared at the source of her problems, a quaint traditional Japanese restaurant located in a secluded part of Kyoto.

In spite of its less than optimal location, it enjoyed a fair bit of popularity among both locals and tourists, its tables almost always filled up at lunch and dinner hours, and had prospered for the better part of a century.

It was her favorite restaurant, better than even the 'master chefs' that her mother employed in the palace in her humble opinion.

Because it served an absolute favorite of Kitsune: tofu.

Tofu was like the food of the Gods to Kitsune, and Kunou was no exception.

If she had the choice, she would have nothing but their tofu dishes for all three meals every day for the rest of her very long life.

Unfortunately for her, her mother, possessing a far greater degree of self-control, forbade their chefs from serving tofu more than twice a week.

There were far worse foods she could be addicted to, but a growing girl like Kunou needed a far better diet than one consisting of nothing but coagulated soy milk.

Kunou did not particularly mind the infrequency of their chefs' tofu.

After all, having it too regularly would only mean more time spent bemoaning their inferiority to those served in the establishment before her.

This restaurant served what were probably the best tofu dishes she ever had in her life, especially the aburaage and their signature tofu hotpot, somehow surpassing the Kitsune chefs who devoted their considerably long lives to cooking tofu despite having an all human staff.

And they guarded their recipe, passed down from the previous generations to the next, jealously, not a single outsider having any idea what ingredients were used to enhance the flavour of the tofu to such a degree.

Their Kitsune chefs had tried replicating their dishes with little success, and had on more than one occasion been tempted to use Youjutsu, the mystical arts of the Youkai, to trick them out of their human competitors.

The only reason they hadn't was because her mother had reigned them in, stopping them before they could stoop to the level of their mischievous and less civilized ancestors from the days of yore.

Thanks to the quality of its tofu dishes, the restaurant was not only popular among humans, but was also frequented by Kitsune in human guises.

Including Kunou and her mother.

The mother and daughter pair came to this restaurant at least once a month.

Today was not one of those days.

Her mother, Yasaka, was nowhere nearby, still in her palace deep in their mystical realm, handling the many responsibilities that came with being the leader of what was essentially a small country on its own.

In fact, Kunou herself was not supposed to be here.

At this time, she was supposed to be in the palace, under constant watch by the guards her mother had assigned her.

Kunou's position as the princess of the Kyoto Youkai and Yasaka's heir apparent placed her in much danger.

She had a target on her back from the moment she was born.

The Kyoto Youkai had not thrived for 4 centuries under Yasaka's leadership without stepping on a lot of toes on the way, making plenty of enemies who wouldn't hesitate to use her as a way to get back at her mother.

Even discounting personal enemies, there would still be plenty of people who wouldn't hesitate to abduct her if given the opportunity.

Like unscrupulous mages, for example.

Kitsune were a powerful species, and the Kyuubi were the strongest among them.

Their fur, their flesh, their bones, even their blood was infused with magical energy, which made them very potent magic reagents and catalysts that could be used for any number of spells, curses and rituals.

In terms of magical power, the only species that could confidently boast superiority over them was probably just Dragons, which were accurately described as 'power incarnate'.

However, Dragons were creatures that practically lived for combat, their species evolving over time for that singular purpose until they were capable of fighting from the day they were born.

Even the weakest Dragon had power equivalent to a Middle-Class Devil, meaning that new-borns were no easy targets, especially if they were being watched over by their older and far stronger family members.

And in modern times, Dragons were practically non-existent in the human world, most of surviving colonies moving to the Underworld to live under the protection of the former Dragon King, Tannin the Meteor Flame Dragon, who had been reincarnated into a Devil and now ranked as one of the Underworld's prided Ultimate-Class Devils.

The chances of ever acquiring a Dragon were about as good as a snowball's chances of not melting in the waters of the Phlegethon, the Burning River.

That wasn't to say that the odds of acquiring a Kyuubi were much higher, considering that the number of Kyuubi alive today could be counted on one hand, and one of them was the leader of the Kyoto Youkai, famed for being unparalleled in Youjutsu and a master of Senjutsu, but unlike Dragons, Kyuubi, and all Kitsune for that matter, were not born battle ready.

They had to train both their body and their spirit to fully tap into the immense power within them.

Yasaka only obtained her current power from training relentlessly for several decades, and even now, she had to keep up her training to prevent her body and spirit from atrophying.

Kunou, who was only into her 20s, still a mere child by Kitsune standards, had not yet undergone any formal training.

As a result, she was physically no stronger than a human child of her physical age, and could not yet tap into even a sliver of her true power, barely able to conjure more than a few sparks of Foxfire that would not be enough to so much as light a candle.

The peak of her Youjutsu abilities was being able to hide her fox ears and tails to make her look like a human child, albeit one with an uncommon hair and eye color in Japan.

She was practically a human child in terms of combat capability.

And that made her the easier target from a tactical standpoint.

Even discounting magicians…well, there were plenty of twisted individuals out there who would love nothing more than to get their hands on a pretty little thing like her, whether they knew or not her true identity.

Yasaka had been born in a much more turbulent and violent time, had been aware of the dangers to her since a very young age, and had trained from said young age to make full use of her innate power.

In comparison, Kunou was born in the much more peaceful modern age and had lived a very sheltered life thus far, kept away from the dark and gritty aspects by her mother.

Yasaka did not have what could be called a happy childhood, and she did not want the same for her only daughter, which led to her spoiling Kunou a good deal.

That wasn't to say that she blinded herself to the potential dangers to her daughter, which was why she assigned a full guard detail to her, consisting only of those she fully trusted.

Unfortunately, her upbringing meant that Kunou could not fully comprehend the danger she was in simply by being born to her mother, and only saw her constant bodyguards as overbearing parenting on Yasaka's part, which led to her constantly trying to sneak away from them with varying degrees of success.

Her guards were trained to protect her with their lives, and could spot even the slightest out-of-place detail, which meant that her attempts to ditch them were often met with failure.

However, the sheer imaginativeness of a child could not be underestimated either, which led to the occasional success and subsequent panic from her entire guard detail as they tried to find her.

Today had been one of those successes.

She had not just snuck out of the palace, but out of the mystical realm it was situated in entirely, and had reached the human world.

There were just so many things she wanted to see!

She knew her way around Kyoto, of course. It wasn't like her mother confined her to the palace 24/7. On the rare days that she was free of any obligations as leader, Yasaka would bring her out to explore the ancient capital.

However, those trips were usually quick, and while she knew everything about the famous sights in Kyoto, like Ginkaku-ji, Kinkaku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera, those were only small parts of a very large city.

There was plenty more to the city and she wanted to know everything.

She had spent most of the time between sneaking out and now exploring, but by lunchtime, she had gotten hungry, and this restaurant was the first place she thought of.

Unfortunately, in her single-minded quest to get away from her guards, she had forgotten a little something that was practically mandatory in the human world.

Money.

She had neglected to bring her wallet, stuffed with her sizeable allowance, with her when she got out.

Which led her to her current conundrum.

She had no money, which meant she couldn't pay for a meal.

And she was quite famished, as evidenced by the constant growling of her stomach.

Now, she had 2 options as far as she could see.

The first was to sneak back into the palace, grab her wallet and come back here.

The problem with it was that her guards were probably searching high and low for her right now.

She barely got away from them when they were at their usual level of attentiveness.

There was no way she could get in and out undetected when they were all on high alert.

The second was to forgo her pride and plead with one of the patrons to pay for her, praying that they were kind-hearted enough to do so.

That plan was undoubtedly feasible.

She did have the advantage of looking like a human child, of course.

A little bit of convincing acting and crocodile tears, and adults would be putty in her hands.

Under normal circumstances, she would never debase herself like that.

Her, a proud Kyuubi and future leader of the Kyoto Youkai, begging mere humans for help?

She would rather die than be forced to endure that shame.

Unfortunately, these were not ordinary circumstances.

There was tofu at stake!

Pride had to take a step back and give way to gluttony.

So, she swallowed her pride and rehearsed the lines she was going to use on the next patron to enter the restaurant, preparing to eat her fill and then disappear before the adults tried to bring her to the police station or something.

Unfortunately, a certain problem had come up.

No one was coming by.

She waited and waited, but not a single soul walked by.

Hell, no one had even exited the restaurant yet.

How could that be!?

It was lunch hour! The narrow street should be filled with customers all wanting to get their fill of tofu dishes before returning to whatever it was they were doing!

But, against all reason, there wasn't anyone.

She waited for close to an hour, the protests of her empty stomach getting louder with each passing moment without sustenance, and she wanted to pull her hair out in frustration.

She couldn't even leverage her position as the princess of the Kyoto Youkai, because the all-human staff had no clue of the supernatural world and did not understand the weight of her title.

She wished she had some knowledge of Youjutsu, just a little, enough to cast a small illusion to fool the staff into thinking that she had paid her bill, but without any training, she wasn't even capable of something that basic yet.

And even if she could, her mother would give her hell for doing such a thing in the first place and risking the exposure of their world to the laymen.

Not even tofu was worth incurring her mother's wrath.

She could be downright terrifying when she was angry.

With a sigh and a slump of her shoulders, Kunou began to trudge her way back to the gate to the mystical realm that was her home.

She was so hungry at this point that she didn't care what she ate, as long as she did eat something.

And just as she rounded the corner to return to the main street…

"Oof!" She let out a sound of surprise as she bumped into someone and fell on her hindquarters.

"Hm? You okay there, kid?"

Rubbing her sore behind, she looked up to find a young couple standing over her.

The woman, some foreigner, had blonde hair, rose-coloured eyes and wearing a dress that showed more skin than she found appropriate, causing her cheeks to flush slightly at the foreign woman's boldness.

The man, the one she had bumped into, dressed in a simple casual outfit in contrast to his companion's more risqué attire, had Asian features, with neck length black hair that was quite typical among Japanese people.

However, his eyes were anything but ordinary.

They were red, a color that was practically unheard of among Japanese. They seemed to shimmer, and she immediately likened them to fine rubies, mystical and alluring to even her, a Kyuubi, and she felt like she could get lost in them for a long, long time…

"Hey kid, say something already. Don't just sit there. Are you okay? You sprain your ankle or something?"

The man's voice, a deep baritone, stirred her from her daze.

Her cheeks burned as she realized that she had been staring in a manner unbefitting her status as a princess.

She opened her mouth, preparing to berate them for not watching where they were going despite not having done so herself, when…

*GROOOOOOOOOOOOOWL*

Her stomach rumbled yet again, the loudest so far, protesting the lack of food in it.

"…"

An awkward silence fell over the three of them as they stared down at her abdomen.

Then as her mind finally caught up to the situation, tears began to prickle at the corner of her eyes.

She had willingly swallowed her pride, prepared herself for the indignity of having to seek aid from a human, and endured her hunger admirably.

But all of that coupled with the sheer embarrassment of her body making such an undignified noise right in front of a pair of lowly humans was finally too much for her to handle.

She couldn't help it.

She began to cry right there and then.

* * *

Ichigo watched as block after block of tofu vanished down the girl's gullet.

He and Deus Xiphos had long finished their meal, a tofu hotpot shared between them along with the standard bowls of rice and side dishes of aburaage and pickled vegetables.

The girl had already eaten about thrice as much as the two of them combined, and showed no signs of slowing down.

She was packing it away like a champ, and with how much she had eaten already, he had to wonder where all of it was going.

And boy, the bill was going to be huge.

Certainly a lot more than he had planned on spending on a single meal.

But, he had to do this to appease the girl.

He had intended to just leave her there once he had sensed her reiatsu and determined that she was one of the Youkai he was trying to avoid.

Even without that, it was fairly obvious that she wasn't some ordinary human, considering the blonde hair and golden eyes that were not at all indigenous to Asians, and her miko oufit.

He figured that her crying was just one of the many pranks that Youkai were infamous for playing on humans.

Unfortunately, the place where she had chosen to start wailing was right next to a crowded street, and a kid bursting into tears in front of you tended to draw the wrong kind of attention, and he had to think fast to get her to stop before she could get him arrested or something.

From the way her stomach had growled so loudly, which was definitely genuine, she had clearly been hungry for a while, so he brought her to the tofu restaurant that had been recommended to them by the locals, just around the corner from where they had bumped into her.

That might have been a mistake, because she was now on her 7th plate of aburaage, after scarfing down her 4th tofu hotpot.

He was already beginning to dread looking at the bill.

It wasn't like he was short on cash or anything.

He earned a good deal of money renting his physical abilities to Kuou Academy's many sports clubs like he did back in Karakura High School, more than enough to finance this trip, and there was a substantial nest egg sitting in his bank account, which would appear to be Shiba Kaien's inheritance from his deceased parents to anyone who snooped, plus the money that Deus Xiphos, or rather, Maria Eden got from her 'day job' as a 'stock trader'.

But, his sensibilities that had been cultivated by spending his formative years as an ordinary human, one that had been forced into a role of responsibility due to the early death of a parent, told him that he shouldn't be spending this much money on a single meal no matter how good the food was.

Well, that ship had clearly sailed.

Finally, the girl let out a sigh of contentment, which Ichigo dearly hoped was a sign that her hunger had finally been sated.

"A most satisfying meal indeed! I, Kunou, thank you for your generosity!" She exclaimed, puffing up in a pompous manner.

"You didn't exactly give us much of a choice, crying in public like that." Ichigo grumbled.

The girl named Kunou flushed bright red.

"I-Impertinent! Do not dredge up a lady's past embarrassments! Such discourtesy is punishable by flogging!" She declared, pointing a finger at him in outrage.

Ah, so that wasn't as much of an act as he had thought, huh?

"She's right, dear. You really shouldn't embarrass a young lady like that." Deus Xiphos chimed in, sounding entirely too mirthful.

" _Seriously?"_ He asked her drily through their connection.

" _Just funning you, my dear master. More importantly, I believe I have deduced this young lady's identity. If I am not mistaken, this is the daughter of the current leader of the Kyoto Youkai."_

Ichigo pursed his lips.

Of course the first Youkai they could not avoid an encounter with had to be the second most important one in the whole capital, possibly in the half of Japan that was governed by her mother.

Thankfully, this was still salvageable.

Kunou did not seem to think of them as any more than tourists to her city, and she did not know that they knew that she was a Youkai.

Once they parted ways, it was unlikely that they would ever cross paths again in the few days they would be in Kyoto.

Sighing, he waved for the waiter and asked for the bill.

When it came and his eyes trailed down to the total amount at the bottom, he died a little on the inside.

Deus Xiphos looked over his shoulder and winced when she saw the number.

"Ouch. That's gonna hurt your wallet."

"Let me see that."

Kunou held a hand out, and after a moment of hesitation, not sure whether or not he should showing her the price of her gluttony, he passed the bill to her.

Her golden eyes quickly scanned it, and as she reached the bottom, her lips curled into a patronizing smile and her eyes gained a pitying look.

"Oh, you poor things. Is a paltry amount like this too expensive for you? My mother and I usually spend twice this amount when we dine here. The life of peasants is difficult indeed. Fret not, for I am neither a thief nor an ingrate! Once I am able to, I will properly compensate you for what I have consumed."

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched.

He didn't respond well to patronization, especially when it was coming from a girl who looked to be half his age.

Well, if she really did intend to pay him back, then he supposed it was fine…

Settling the bill, the trio, looking rather out of place among regular Japanese, exited the restaurant.

"I will return home to collect my wallet. Wait here for me." Kunou said.

Ichigo really hoped that she was being sincere, or he was going to feel very stupid.

That was when he noticed four Youkai reiatsu signatures closing in on their location fast.

He looked up and saw 4 white-robed individuals, all wearing Kitsune masks, with 5 fluffy fox tails each, falling from above, landing around Kunou in a surrounding formation.

Sent by her mother to retrieve her, perhaps?

In the next moment, they vanished along with the Kyuubi princess.

Well, visibly disappeared anyway.

If he wasn't mistaken, this was something similar to the snake Arrancar's hiding ability that she had used while under siege from Quilge Opie.

Only it wasn't quite as sophisticated, as it only obscured them from sight, not from reiatsu sensory.

He could still sense all 5 of them inside.

Ichigo frowned.

Why go through all the trouble of using a spell, especially in front of two seemingly ordinary humans, who would definitely notice 5 people just vanishing suddenly?

It made more sense to simply pretend to be her family members who had been searching for her.

Something was wrong.

* * *

"Greetings, Kunou-hime, we have come for you."

Kunou blinked in confusion as she stared up at the expressionless masks of the four Gobi-no-Kitsune that had appeared.

Had her guards finally found her?

How strange.

Among the roster of her guard detail, she recalled that only one was a Kitsune, while the rest were an assortment of powerful Youkai, all handpicked by her mother.

Had her mother sent out her attendants to bring her home?

"Who are you? Did Okaa-sama send you?"

A palpable aura of rage manifested around the four as soon as those words left her mouth, causing her to flinch.

"Do not associate us with you pretenders! Only one has the right to claim the title of the Kyuubi Clan's leader, and it is not any of you human-loving fools! We serve only the one true Kyuubi, Tamamo-no-Mae-sama!"

The blood drained from her face.

She knew who they were.

She didn't usually listen to her tutor's boring history lessons, but the long history of the Kitsune race had always interested her.

And what had caught her undivided attention were the events surrounding the founding of the Kyuubi Clan of which she was heiress.

A few centuries back, when Amaterasu had formed the two Youkai Factions, the Kyuubi Clan that had been appointed as the leader of the Kyoto Youkai, led by her grandmother Nanami, moved to unite all Kitsune in Japan under the clan's banner.

While most Kitsune were not against it, some even welcoming the idea of uniting the species, there were others who had argued vehemently.

They were against the idea of living amicably with humans.

To them, humans were nothing but prey and tools for their entertainment.

The thought of having to treat humans as anything close to equals was gut-wrenching to them.

It was an ideology that was uncommon among Kitsune, even at the time.

They certainly found humans amusing to play around with, but certainly not to the point of malice.

The ideology of these few was inspired by a single Kitsune.

A Kyuubi, who was already dead at the time, but whose infamy spread even after and continued to thrive even now.

The sole reason why the image of Kyuubi had been so thoroughly sullied to those who were not in the know.

Tamamo-no-Mae.

She had been an outlier among Kitsune during her time.

A Kitsune, a Kyuubi at that, who treated humans with outright disdain, actively sabotaging them in multiple ways when she was alive, most famously by posing as a beloved courtesan of the Emperor at the time and abusing her position to subtly worsen their quality of life.

Until the legendary Onmyouji, Abe-no-Yasuchika, divined her true identity and led a small army to kill her.

Even then, she continued to haunt the plains where she had died as a cursed stone, the Sesshoseki, releasing a poisonous gas that killed everything around it, until a Buddhist monk exorcised her spirit and sent her to Yomi where she belonged.

Though most of the Kitsune race held her in contempt for her actions, a select few revered her as the perfect role model for how Kitsune should conduct themselves.

The Tamamo loyalists and the Kyuubi Clan clashed, but with vastly inferior numbers and the lack of any Kyuubi on their side, the loyalists were quickly defeated, rounded up and imprisoned.

However, a few had managed to escape, hiding in the darkest and most obscure corners of Japan, quietly spreading their ideology to any Kitsune that would listen.

They were now far and few between, but Tamamo loyalists were still very much an active problem with how they continued to poison the minds of impressionable Kitsune and drag the image of their race through the mud.

There were even rumors that they had managed to convert a few members of other Youkai species, touting the idea of complete Youkai supremacy over humans.

And four of them were here, in Kyoto, surrounding her.

She understood.

They were here to kidnap her.

But how?

Her mother's information network was second to none in Japan.

If Tamamo loyalists had set up camp right in the heart of Kyoto, she would have gotten word of it within the day.

The palace would have gone on complete lockdown, making it impossible for Kunou to have escaped the way she had a few hours ago, until they had been dealt with.

No, that didn't matter right now.

She had to get away, return to the palace to warn her mother.

Conjuring a small spark of Foxfire, she lobbed it at the closest loyalist and broke into a sprint down the empty street.

The main entrance to the mystical realm of the Kyoto Youkai, an out-of-the-way torii behind Kinkaku-ji, was too far away for her to reach without being caught, but there was a secret entrance nearby, one known only to a select few.

She wasn't one of them, but she had come across the entrance on the other side during one of her many failed escape attempts.

If she could just get to it…!

However, before she could even take more than a few steps, a hand seized her by her hair, causing her to cry out as she was roughly pulled back.

"Hmph, was that supposed to be Foxfire? Pathetic. Even a Nibi could do better than that. Has the Kyuubi lineage of the pretenders' bloodline finally waned? Is she even suitable for the ritual if she's this weak?" A voice sneered into her ear.

"No, sister. It's not that the Kyuubi blood runs thin in her. The little runt hasn't received any training yet. It doesn't matter. The ritual does not require a trained Kyuubi, simply one with the latent power. We should be grateful for the pretender's carelessness in allowing her untrained daughter to run around the human world unsupervised like this. It made our mission all too easy."

Tears welled up in her eyes.

She was in this position because of her wilfulness.

She should never have left the palace.

She had to get away, but how?

The vice-like grip on her hair showed no signs of releasing her any time soon, and with her meagre physical strength and magical prowess, she had no way of fighting back.

Was there…nothing she could do?

"It's time to go. Even with the subversions we planned, it's only a matter of time before the pretender and her dogs find out we have her daughter and come for us. We need to complete the ritual before they find us."

Fear gripped her heart.

Where were they taking her?

What were they planning to do with her?

Would her mother find her in time?

Would she ever see her mother again?

One of the Kitsune spread talismans on the ground beneath and channelled her spiritual energy into them.

They began to glow, the signs of a jutsu activating.

" _Save me, Okaa-sama!"_ She cried out in her heart, hoping against hope that her silent pleas would reach her mother.

"Alright, that's enough of that."

Whatever was hiding them from the eyes of outsiders suddenly shattered, and the Kitsune who had been casting the jutsu was struck in the gut with a hard kick, sending her flying into the side of a building, where she slumped down to the ground unconscious.

"Wha-!?"

A sickening crack interrupted the Kitsune who was holding her by her hair, the fingers around her golden locks releasing as their owner was kicked in the jaw hard enough to break it, shattering her mask in the process.

She looked up at her savior.

"Y-You!?"

It wasn't her mother.

It was the man who had paid for her meal at the restaurant.

"Maria, take care of the kid, will you?" He said to his companion.

"Of course. Come here, sweetie." The woman said as she gently led her away.

"W-Wait, we have to-!"

"Don't worry. He's got this." She said with a confident smile.

"Filthy human! How dare you interfere with our sacred mission! You will pay dearly for-"

"You talk too much."

He closed the gap between the two of them with speed that was completely unbefitting of a human and slammed an elbow right into her temple, knocking her out cold instantly.

The last Kitsune still standing radiated fear, her tails flitting around agitatedly as she looked at her 3 fallen companions, and then at the human who had so easily taken them out.

Kunou didn't blame her. She didn't share their disdain for humans, but even she could not believe that one was able to overpower 3 Kitsune, all Gobi at that, with no effort.

The last loyalist reached up into her left sleeve and pulled out more talismans, throwing them with shaking hands.

The slips of paper sailed through the air, glowing with energy as they inched closer to her savior.

"Watch out!" She cried out a warning.

It had been unnecessary, because he simply maneuvered around them almost dancingly with impressive speed and footwork, reaching the last assailant and knocking her out with a punch to the gut.

She stared at him in awe.

A single human had taken out 4 Gobi-no-Kitsune without getting a scratch in the process.

"You alright there, kid? They didn't rough you up too badly, did they?" He asked as he walked back over to them.

Blood rushed to her cheeks, causing them to burn bright red as she quickly looked away, too mortified to meet the gaze of the man who had saved her.

"Y-YesIamthankyouverymuch!" She blurted, a jumble of words pouring from her mouth, all sense of decorum gone.

She blushed even harder as her savior and his companion aimed looks of amusement at her.

"Kunou-hime!"

Her eyes shot upwards, spotting an anthropomorphic crow, clad in Japanese armor and a katana sheathed at his waist, descending from the sky.

She recognized him immediately.

"Yogarasu!"

The Tengu was the second son of the Tengu Clan's current chief, a long-time friend of her mother's, as well as the leader of her guard detail, personally appointed to that position by Yasaka, having served her court for almost as long as she had been leader.

While not the physically strongest of her guards, he was unquestionably the most skilled, easily running circles around the rest during their training sessions.

Having never known her biological father, Yogarasu was the closest thing to a father figure she had ever known, though his overprotectiveness caused her no end of exasperation.

As it was about to now,

The Tengu took one look at the pair who had saved her, the pair who were very obviously not from around these parts, and drew his sword.

"Unhand the princess immediately, ruffians!" He demanded loudly as he held the blade in a stance.

"Stop, Yogarasu! Sheath your sword at once! They saved my life!" She commanded him hastily before he could start a fight.

As skilled as Yogarasu was, from the little she had seen of the very short fight, her savior might be just as skilled, if not more so.

And she did not want to see who would win in a serious fight between them.

The Tengu paused, some tension leaving his body.

"They…saved you?"

Kunou pointed to the 4 unconscious Kitsune on the ground around them.

"They are the ones who attempted to abduct me! Apprehend them immediately! They are Tamamo-no-Mae loyalists!" She spat in disgust.

Yogarasu let out a squawk of outrage as he redirected his anger at the four instead.

During the short war between the Kyuubi Clan and the loyalists, the Tengu Clan had already been one of their closest allies and joined them on the battlefield.

They won, but they had still suffered casualties in the process.

One of which had been the Tengu Clan's previous chief, Yogarasu's grandfather.

The loyalists were a very sore spot for the Tengu Clan, and whenever news of them popped up, they were always one of the first on the scene.

Yogarasu pulled out several talismans, channelling his energy as he threw them at the four loyalists.

The slips of paper turned into ropes of energy, binding them in place and keeping them from escaping.

"Scum…to think they actually dared to so brazenly enter our territory and make an attempt on the princess…! However, your safety is the most paramount now, Kunou-hime. I will contact the others to secure these heathens. You must return to the palace immediately. There may still be more of them in the city. We will need to organize a search and purge."

Kunou felt the hands of her savior's companion release their gentle grip on her shoulders, allowing her to go to Yogarasu's side.

The Tengu turned to her savior and bowed deeply.

"I apologize for my rudeness. My name is Yogarasu. Might I ask for yours?"

"…Name's Shiba Kaien. She's Maria Eden." Her savior replied after a moment of hesitation.

"Shiba-dono, Eden-dono, you have my gratitude for rescuing the princess. Might I ask you to stay around? We will have some questions about the attack."

The man named Shiba Kaien sighed, but nodded.

"Excellent. Then, we will see you soon. Come, princess. We must return to the palace and report to your mother."

Kunou nodded and managed one last demure glance at her savior's face before leaving with Yogarasu for the nearest entrance.

As she reached the end of the street, her ears twitched as she faintly picked up her savior's words to his companion.

"Like I said. All this is on you."

* * *

"…And then your leader arrived." Ichigo recounted the events of the attack to the guards who had arrived to apprehend the four rogue Kitsune yet again.

He was getting more than a little annoyed.

The looks of awe being directed at him would probably be tinged with a lot more scepticism if all they had was his word on how he, a seemingly ordinary human, had effortlessly incapacitated four Kitsune, each of which were Gobi with power that was more or less equal to a High-Class Devil.

However, the four actual unconscious bodies left in his wake and the testimony of their princess lent more than enough credence to his claim.

He swore that by the 3rd recount, they just wanted to hear it for the sake of it.

The two Oni, one red and one blue, were especially excited by the martial prowess he had shown.

Kitsune were creatures that primarily relied on Youjutsu and other esoteric powers, not physical abilities, but a trained Kitsune was still much stronger than a regular human.

The fact that he could knock all 4 out with just one blow each without getting a scratch spoke volumes of either considerable skill, strength, or a combination of both.

Those two were probably just a step away from directly challenging him themselves.

It was a good thing that the Tengu from earlier chose that moment to return, dismissing the other guards, who took the 4 Kitsune with them.

"Thank you for waiting. Once again, my name is Yogarasu, the captain of Kunou-hime's Imperial Guards. And once again, I thank you for saving the princess."

"Yeah, sure, no problem."

Yogarasu chuckled.

"By that flippant tone, I surmise you don't realize just the significance of what you have done today. Had Kunou-hime been abducted, her mother, the venerable Yasaka-hime, would have torn all of Japan apart searching for her, regardless of the consequences. As politically savvy as she is, there is nothing a mother would not do for her child. Needless to say, she would have incurred the wrath of many in the process, and may have even started a full blown conflict with other Factions. Your actions tonight did not just save Kunou-hime's life, but our Faction as well. Which is why Yasaka-hime wishes to personally express her gratitude."

Ichigo's expression stiffened.

Great, just what he needed. Going from meeting the second most important Youkai in this half of Japan to meeting the most important.

"It's okay, really. The sentiment is enough for me. I would rather not get any more involved with your world than I already have."

"Yes, we figured that was the case. Which is why Yasaka-hime is willing to come to you. No one will know of this meeting outside of us. One cannot maintain leadership over half a country and navigate politics for centuries without learning the importance of discretion."

"Uh…"

"Her gratitude is all she wishes to convey. Nothing more, and no strings attached."

Ichigo sighed.

It looked like there was no way of getting out of this, short of outright running away and that frankly was more trouble than it was worth, if he ended up offending the Kyoto Youkai in the process.

Well, if their leader was as discrete as he claimed, he might as well bite the bullet and get this over with.

And that was how he ended up in a function hall of the hotel he was staying in, sitting across from Yogarasu, Kunou, and a voluptuous, bewitchingly beautiful Kyuubi that far better matched Ichigo's impression of the species from the legends and folktales he grew up with than the more diminutive Kitsune did.

He could certainly see the resemblance between Kunou and her mother.

The venerable Yasaka, dressed in a yellow kimono that did little to conceal her considerable cleavage, sat regally in a chair on the other end of the table, her golden locks held up in a high ponytail by eight ornamental kanzashi, her golden gaze unwaveringly locked onto his face, as though looking long and hard enough would reveal the answers she sought.

The tension in the room, empty aside from them, was so thick that it was almost tangible.

Eventually, she spoke, breaking the silence between them.

"I welcome you to Kyoto, visitors. I am Yasaka, leader of the Kyuubi Clan and the Kyoto Youkai, appointed by Her Holiness, Amaterasu Okami-sama, to rule over the mythical realms of western and southern Japan. Though, I suspect you were already aware of that much." She began, her expression carefully kept blank, preventing Ichigo from getting a read on her.

Though, he could already imagine what was going through her head.

"Yogarasu has informed me of the situation. I thank you both from the bottom of my heart for rescuing my Kunou from those miscreants who dared to trespass into our territory."

She bowed deeply, a gesture that Kunou hastily imitated.

And also one that Ichigo and Maria quickly returned.

Byakuya always called him an uncouth barbarian or something along those lines, but just because he never bothered to use them with the prissy Head of the Kuchiki Clan did not mean that he didn't have any manners.

He figured that now was the appropriate time to display them, if he didn't want to start any more trouble.

Offending the older Kyuubi in front of him might lead to never being able to set foot in Japan ever again.

"That is why I ask you to forgive me if I sound accusatory or out of line. Please take this as the worrying of a mother. However, we have taken the liberty of looking into you two."

Her golden gaze sharpened, and he found himself sitting straighter as they got to the real reason for this meeting.

"Shiba Kaien, 18, born in the quaint town of Kuou, model 3rd year student in the high school division of Kuou Academy, only child, parents deceased, no living relatives, a normal background, a normal family and a normal childhood. Maria Eden, 22, born in Venice, Italy, emigrated to Japan with her parents at the age of 3, currently self-employed as a mildly successful stock trader, and again, only child, parents deceased, no living relatives, a normal background, a normal family and a normal childhood." She listed off casually, as though speaking of something as mundane as the weather.

"Please tell me how two seemingly ordinary people seem so calm in the face of what should be their first supernatural encounter, nde able to so easily defeat 4 Gobi-no-Kitsune."

And there it was.

The question Ichigo had been anticipating and dreading.

He didn't blame her, he would do the same in her position.

Especially if his kid had been directly involved.

Well, pretending to be an ordinary human was way out of the question at this point, so he supposed all he could do now was think of a convincing story and hope they bought it.

"…Well, I suppose there's no point hiding it now. Maria and I have been aware of the supernatural world for a few years now. And for a time, we involved ourselves in it."

"For a time?"

Ichigo's eyes shifted downwards, making no attempt to hide the pain he dealt with every day since his arrival in this world.

A very small gasp escaped Yasaka as she took note of the raw emotion in his gaze.

"…Eventually, we stepped on some toes belonging to very vindictive individuals. And they took it out on our parents, who knew nothing of the supernatural."

"I see…then, the accidents that your respective parents reportedly died in?"

"Fabrications we constructed. They were killed in revenge for our actions. And we avenged them in turn. After that, we vowed to never get involved in supernatural affairs again."

"If that was your intention, then I must say, Kuou is certainly not where I would expect you two to live. As I recall, the Three Factions have been making moves there as of late. Especially so in recent months, after the signing of their Kuou Treaty."

"We figured the best place to avoid trouble was where we could keep an eye on it. And right under their noses is the last place they would find us."

Yasaka smiled slightly.

"Well, I suppose I cannot fault that logic. But, why involve yourself in this case if you were so insistent on staying out of such affairs?"

Ichigo looked at her strangely.

Was she asking that in all seriousness?

"Because no decent person would simply allow a child to be accosted in front of them." He answered matter-of-factly.

Yasaka fell silent, her eyes once again searching his features for something.

Then, she smiled, the suspicion in her gaze alleviating somewhat.

Not completely, but it was a start.

"I apologize for overstepping my boundaries. You have the eternal gratitude of the Kyuubi Clan and the Kyoto Youkai for your actions. We will prepare an appropriate reward…"

"Oh, no need for that, really. Just, don't make any mention of our involvement, especially to the Three Factions, and we'll call it even."

"I see. That is very gracious of you indeed."

"Oh, but if you could…"

Ichigo reached into his pocket and pulled out a long slip of paper.

Kunou, who had been looking lost while they were in the middle of their conversation, turned bright red at the sight of it.

She looked like she was about to lunge for it, but it was already too late.

"Could you pay me back for what your daughter ate on my tab?"

Yasaka took the receipt from the restaurant from it and after giving it a quick glance, turned a highly unamused gaze to her daughter.

"…Kunou, did you force these nice people to pay for your meal? A meal you weren't supposed to be having?"

The younger Kyuubi let out a tiny whimper as she quailed under her mother's palpable disapproval.

She directed a teary-eyed look of betrayal at him.

It was so amusingly adorable that even he let out a snort at the sight.

Yogarasu didn't help matters as he clasped a hand over his mouth, trying his damnedest to not break decorum and dissolve into giggles.

The leader of the Kyoto Youkai sighed in a harried manner, sending her daughter a gaze that practically screamed that they would be discussing this in further detail later before turning back to him.

"I'm very sorry for my daughter's disgraceful behaviour. Rest assured that every yen you spent on her will be repaid."

"That's all I ask."

"Then, I believe that we're done here. We must return to our realm immediately. Capturing 4 Tamamo-no-Mae loyalists alive was an unexpected windfall. We have much to ask them. Such as the location of their comrades, for one. The loyalists have been a rather unsightly blight for a good long while now. We hope to finally excise them this time."

"Good luck with that. Hope you find the rest of them."

"We do as well. Now, Yogarasu will show you out. Thank you for coming."

They bowed to each other one last time and the two of them left the room, Yogarasu holding the door open for them.

"Now, young lady, I do believe that we need to have a talk about your conduct…"

Ichigo heard Yasaka speaking very crossly to her daughter before the door closed.

The kid was safe and sound, and none the worse for wear after the experience.

It was over. There was no longer a need for him to get involved.

Or so he thought.

* * *

Ichigo was startled awake by a loud pounding on his door in the middle of the night, Deus Xiphos jolting next to him.

"Shiba-dono! Shiba-dono, are you there!?" A slightly muffled voice shouted from the other side of the door.

That voice was…Yogarasu's?

He got out of bed, and after making sure he was decent, opened the door.

"What are you do-" Ichigo began to ask as the door swung open, but stopped when he saw the state the Tengu was in.

One of his eyes was swollen shut, and the other was halfway there. Several bald spots on his head looked like feathers had been torn out of them in patches, and the skin beneath was an ugly red, as though they had been burned. Trails of blood dripped from various places on his person, his beak had chips in several places, and his armor was basically torn to shreds.

And most telling, his reiatsu had dropped immensely.

He looked like he had just gone through hell and back.

"What the hell happened to you!?" He exclaimed.

Did he seriously come here in that state?

He was lucky no one had seen him like this.

"There's no time! We need your help, please! Kunou-hime has been abducted!"

"…What?"

Anger surged in his chest, threatening to spill out.

His face hardened, and he turned to Deus Xiphos, who had already gotten dressed.

"Let's go."

Yogarasu led them out of the hotel and down a side alley.

In the wee hours of the morning, there was basically no one around.

A good thing, when you're walking around with an anthropomorphic crow who looked like he had crawled out of a flaming car wreck.

Looking around to make sure they weren't being followed, Yogarasu extended a hand into the air and made a gesture, as though parting a curtain.

And much like a curtain, the air in front of them seemed to slide to the side, the drab scenery of the dark alley giving way to a landscape of a much older period.

They now stood on a hill that overlooked the Edo Period-esque city that served as the mythical realm of the Kyoto Youkai.

The reiatsu in the air here was even thicker than in Kyoto, almost enough to remind him of Soul Society or Hueco Mundo.

All manner of Youkai roamed the streets below.

Nurikabe, Kasa-Obake, Oni, Ushi-Oni, Futakuchi-Onna, the countless mythological beings that he had grown up hearing folktales of.

And they were all running around in a panic, no doubt because of the kidnapping of their princess.

"Come, Yasaka-hime is waiting." Yogarasu said between laboured breaths.

He was obviously not in any condition to be running around.

But all able-bodied personnel were probably busy trying to track the abductors down and rescue Kunou.

The Tengu led them through the gates of the palace that stood at the top of the hill, where things were even more frantic than it was down in the city.

Several high-level Youkai, each with considerable levels of reiatsu, were barking orders at the rest, causing a mad rush within the halls, so much so that it was fairly difficult to navigate their way to the throne room with so many of them in the way.

But after much shoving, they finally reached the golden doors.

Within, anger and desperation hung thickly in the air.

Yasaka was highly aggravated, her nine luxurious golden tails swishing around in an agitated manner.

She caught sight of them and hurried over.

"Thank you both for coming on such short notice. I know you two do not wish to get involved in our affairs, but…"

"No, we understand. What happened?"

The Kyuubi's beautiful features twisted into an expression of animalistic anger.

"Traitors! Spies in my own court! Cursed blackguards, stabbing us in the back!" She hissed.

"Allow me to explain. After our meeting concluded a few hours ago, Yasaka-hime, Kunou-hime and I returned here. Yasaka-hime left to assist in the interrogation of the four loyalists you dealt with this afternoon. After the harrowing experience, Kunou-hime was understandably exhausted and retired to her room to rest. We, her guards, took turns standing watch outside the door while the rest patrolled the halls. Approximately four hours ago, while I was stationed outside Kunou-hime's room with another guard, we were approached by three of Yasaka-hime's ladies-in-waiting, who wished to inquire on Kunou-hime's condition. I'm ashamed to say that we let out guard down. We never imagined that there were loyalists planted in the palace. The moment we turned our backs, they struck us down. When I regained consciousness, they were gone, and so was Kunou-hime. Most likely, they panicked when they learned that their four comrades had been captured and fearing that their identities would soon be exposed, they made their move first." Yogarasu said, his face painted with utmost chagrin.

"Thank you, Yogarasu. You should go and see the healers. Your wounds are quite severe."

"However, I should help look for Kunou-hime…"

"You will not be of any help to anyone in your current condition. Go. Once you and the other guards have recovered, you may join the rescue effort."

"…Understood. I will take my leave."

The wounded Tengu bowed before limping out of the room.

"So, there's still no luck finding them?"

"No. Despite our trackers' best efforts, we have not been able to locate them. They were careful enough not to leave any traces behind, so we have no idea where they have taken my daughter. I'm sure they would eventually find them with enough time, but time is exactly what we do not have, not when we still have no idea what it is they are planning to do with her." Yasaka growled.

"I'm afraid we do now, Yasaka-chan." An elderly voice interrupted.

A rather short old man, with a very oddly-shaped head, extending backwards from his face like a gourd, dressed in a black kimono under a red cloak, a sheathed katana hanging from his obi, stepped into the throne room with a serious expression on his face.

Yasaka took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Allow me to introduce you two. Shiba-dono, this is Nurarihyon, leader of the Hyakki Yakou and sovereign of the Youkai of eastern and northern Japan. Nurarihyon-dono was here to discuss diplomatic matters with me, but when Kunou was taken, he offered to help us extract information from the loyalists. As a master of illusionary-type Youjutsu and mental techniques, there are none more suited for interrogation than him. Nurarihyon-dono, this is Shiba Kaien and his companion, Maria Eden, who saved my daughter from the first abduction attempt earlier."

Ichigo looked at the old man with surprise.

With reiatsu that surpassed even Yasaka, if only by a little, he already knew that he couldn't be an ordinary Youkai.

But, he had not expected the ruler of the other half of mythical Japan to be here.

"I already figured out that much. I must say, you're quite the swordsman, lad." The legendary Youkai said as he looked straight at Ichigo.

He froze, fearing that his secret had been found out.

Yasaka looked between them.

"I don't recall any reports of Shiba-dono using a sword…" She murmured.

"Oh no, it's just my intuition. When you're as experienced as I am, these kinds of things become immediately obvious. You're doing a pretty good job of hiding the usual markers, kid, but there are some things you can't hide no matter how hard you try, and any fellow swordsman worth their salt will be able to tell. I would love to test my skills against yours, but I'm afraid this isn't the time for it." Nurarihyon grouched as his fingers traced the handle of his katana.

Ichigo relaxed just a little, relieved that his real secret had yet to be exposed.

Still, he took the old Youkai's words into consideration.

He was going to have to put more effort into his disguise.

Maybe he should start carrying a mundane katana around?

"Nurarihyon-dono, have you learned something from them?"

"Aye, they weren't keen on giving it up, but I pried the details of the ritual they were planning from their lips. It's our worst fear, Yasaka-chan. They're going to revive Tamamo-no-Mae." He said grimly.

Yasaka swayed on the spot, looking like she was about to pass out.

Ichigo was confused.

"Reviving the dead? Is that even possible?"

"Oh, it certainly is. It's considered to be among the highest taboos, which is why any records or instructions on how to perform such rituals were supposed to have been destroyed. But, I wouldn't be surprised if the loyalists have managed to get their hands on a surviving copy, or learned one from foreign lands. They might have even managed to figure a ritual out through trial and error. They've certainly been around long enough to do so. Doesn't really matter. Point is, that's what they're planning, and they're going to use the little lady to do it."

"How so?"

"There are plenty of resurrection rituals out there, and the reagents needed are different for each one. But, the one thing they all have in common is the key component. A sacrifice."

Horror dawned on him as he realized what that meant.

"And it can't be just any sacrifice either. It has to be one whose 'value' is equal to the one being revived, in order to take their place in the afterlife. Essentially, the sacrifice of a Kyuubi is required to revive another Kyuubi. I suppose that's why they went through the trouble of abducting the little lady. The only other Kyuubi alive is Yasaka-chan, and I guess the idea of trying to capture a fully trained Kyuubi was less appealing than the untrained one."

"Where are they!? Where did they take my Kunou!?" Yasaka demanded shrilly, looking like she was on the verge of a meltdown.

"Sorry, Yasaka-chan, but those four were just fodder following orders. They didn't know where their leaders are conducting the ritual, only that it's a 'fitting place', and that could be anywhere. The old palace where Tamamo-no-Mae posed as a courtesan, or the plains of Nasu where she was slain, or the place of her birth. Without knowing how the loyalists think, it could be anywhere in Japan."

"Then, there's really nothing we can do but wait for the trackers to locate them? Will they even make it in time?" Yasaka whispered, despair overtaking her beautiful features.

Ichigo grimaced.

The loyalists had a couple hours' head start. If they weren't already at their destination, they were probably close.

There was pretty much no chance that the Kyoto Youkai's trackers would find them in time.

But he could. Quite easily in fact, if he used pericognition to locate Kunou.

But there was no doubt that he would be outing himself as a God if he did so.

Divine reiatsu was distinctive, and he had no doubt that the two leaders of the Youkai Factions knew what it felt like.

But, weighing his own personal desires against the life of a child?

There was no contest.

His path was clear.

"…I'll find her." He declared firmly.

Yasaka and Nurarihyon turned to look at him.

"Really?" Yasaka asked, so much blind hope in her gaze that Ichigo almost flinched away.

"Really? And how do you plan to do that?" Nurarihyon questioned, his voice tinged with both interest and scepticism.

Ichigo did not reply.

He would get his answer soon enough anyway.

"Maria." He called out to his loyal companion, who had been watching him with an expression of worry.

"…Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah. A child's life is at stake. I can't just let that go because of my own hang-ups."

"…Very well. If that is what you want, then of course I'll help."

She pressed her hands to his temples as he began to channel the First Light.

" _I'm sorry. This is my fault. We should have never come here."_ She apologized to him telepathically.

" _It's fine. If we weren't here, who knows what would have happened to that kid?"_

Ichigo activated pericognition, and immediately, the atmosphere in the room changed as a pulse of his divine power raced across the realm and beyond, scouring the world for the tiny Kyuubi, drawing expressions of abject shock from the two Youkai leaders.

He paid them no mind as he focused on the scene slowly forming before his eyes.

Gone was the majestic throne room, and in its place was a clearing in the middle of a forest somewhere, at the base of a mountain judging by the cliff wall off to the side.

In the middle of the clearing was an intricately carved octagonal stone altar, as though someone had carved a large magic circle into material form, a pillar with a lit candle atop at each corner.

Kitsune and the occasional Youkai of other species placed a variety of objects on the outskirts of the altar, likely objects required for the ritual.

And lying on the raised center of the altar, bound with ropes and completely unconscious, was the little Kyuubi that they were looking for.

Ichigo allowed his sense of hearing to return to the throne room in order to converse with the two leaders.

"I found her."

"Where!?" Yasaka demanded.

"A clearing at the base of a mountain somewhere. She's lying on top of a stone altar with loyalists surrounding her, preparing the reagents for the ritual. Looks like they're almost ready."

"That barely narrows it down…There are thousands of mountains in Japan. Aren't there any landmarks that can help us locate it?"

Ichigo scanned the clearing, searching for a distinguishing markers that could help.

That was when he caught sight of a black torii gate, built right in front of a cave entrance at the base of the cliff wall.

He had been so focused on the altar that he hadn't noticed it before.

But now that he had, he wondered how he could have missed it in the first place.

Just looking at it caused a chill to run down his spine, ice to settle in the pit of his stomach, and cold sweat to form on his brow.

This dread he was experiencing…he knew it from somewhere.

That's right…it was just like when he had first laid eyes on the Gates of Hell back in his world.

The Realm of Eternal Damnation that awaited all sinners…he had visited it twice, once to save Yuzu and again to save his comrades, and that was more than enough for several lifetimes.

The miasma of the realm made it completely uninhabitable, save the sinners who didn't really have a say in the matter, having been been bound to it by Hell's Chains and the Kushanada, the Gate Keepers.

The Hell of this world was evidently more hospitable, considering how civilized the Devils turned out to be.

Maybe it was different during the age of the Original Maou, but the Current Maou had done a good job of improving the living conditions of their species, separating their home from the Nine Circles where the damned were eternally confined.

Kuou, which had an entrance to Hell in the form of an interdimensional train station of all things, did not feel remotely close to the Gates of Hell of his world.

So, what was past this torii gate that felt so similar to the Realm of Perdition of his world?

"What the hell is that…?" He found himself unconsciously muttering before he could stop himself.

"What? What is it? What do you see?" Yasaka asked.

"By any chance, is it a black torii right in front of a cave at the base of the mountain?" Nurarihyon brought up in a grim tone, almost shocking Ichigo enough to break his concentration.

"How did you…?"

"Tch, so it's Mount Hiba, sitting on the old Izumo-Hoki border in Shimane then. That's smart of them. Shimane is the one place in all of Japan that neither Youkai Factions have jurisdiction over. A purification barrier around the entire prefecture stops any attempts at teleporting in, and even if it wasn't there, we can't just carelessly barge our way in either…"

He blinked.

"Why's that?"

"Never you mind, lad. You'll probably sleep better at night if you don't know." Nurarihyon replied distractedly.

That only served to spike his curiosity, but Nurarihyon did not seem keen on sharing, and neither did Yasaka, who was rapidly paling.

"To make matters worse, they actually set up shop there of all places. They couldn't have picked a worse spot in all of Shimane if they tried."

"…Not to be a broken record, but…?"

"Well, no harm in letting you know about this bit. You'll more than likely want to stay away from there. That cave is Yomotsu Hirasaka, the entrance to Yomi. And I'm not talking about the silly tourist attraction that humans can enter. I mean the real one."

"…Wait, Yomi, as in…?"

"Mm hm, our very own version of Hell. A place of eternal gloom and misery, where all the dead of Japan, save those of a different faith, are fated to end up."

That explained the feeling he was getting from the cave.

Unlike most religions, Shinto did not have different afterlives depending on the deeds committed in life, where the good go to paradise and the sinners are condemned.

Yomi was the final destination, and it was neither Heaven nor Hell.

It was a realm of perpetual darkness and neutrality, where souls within simply wandered aimlessly for eternity.

In a sense, it might be even worse than Hell.

"Well, there is one possible piece of good news. If they're going through the trouble of setting up the ritual right in front of Yomotsu Hirasaka, they must be using their own original ritual and not one of the old ones. Meaning they'll be treading very lightly to maximize the chances of the ritual's success. It might buy us some time, if it hasn't already." Nurarihyon said with cheer that even he himself did not seem to believe.

"To do what, exactly? From what Shiba-dono described, the ritual is already nearing completion. Negotiating to allow our entrance into Izumo will take too long. And forcing our way in will only ensure the destruction of our factions. How can I possibly choose between my daughter and my subjects?" Yasaka whispered, sinking to her knees, despair plainly depicted on her face.

"…I'm sorry, Yasaka-chan."

Ichigo silently allowed his divine power to dissipate, causing the clearing to fade away and return his full awareness to the throne room.

That sort of defeatist attitude reminded him too much of Byakuya when Rukia's execution had been mandated.

Giving up on her because of his obligation to uphold the backwards laws of Soul Society, despite his own personal feelings on the matters…

It pissed him back then and it pissed him off now.

"…I don't know what's going on in Izumo, nor do I know anything of your circumstances. But I don't think you should be giving up so easily. If I were in your shoes…instead of agonizing over having to choose one over the other, I'd fight to my last breath to save both."

Ichigo looked at Deus Xiphos, who nodded back in understanding.

" _No matter what path you choose, I will always support you."_

"It's Mount Hiba in Izumo, right? I'm going." He said resolutely.

He turned on his heel and walked away, preparing to rescue the little Kyuubi.

"…Why?"

Ichigo looked back to see Yasaka staring at him with a look of utter incomprehension.

"Didn't you want to stay out of supernatural affairs? Why are you going so far for someone you barely know?"

"Because it's the right thing to do. It might not be the safest thing, the wisest thing or the sanest thing to do, but as long as it's the right thing to do, there's no reason not to do it."

He turned fully to face her once more.

"And what about you? What are you going to do if you don't go?"

Even now, indecision marred her features.

And it pissed him off to no end.

"Cry? Are you just gonna sit here and cry about not being able to protect her!?" He roared at her, echoing the words that his father had once said to him, back when he had despaired against Aizen.

Kurosaki Isshin may not have been the best father, but he had been a man of character, with plenty of bits of wisdom to pass on.

And those words had been one of them.

Yasaka stared at him in shock, but still made no move to get up from the floor.

That was it.

His anger reached its boiling point, and if it weren't for the modifications that Great Red had made to this body, his reiatsu would be spilling out in droves and crushing everything around him, if not outright disintegrating them.

He rushed at her, pulling her up roughly by the lapels of her kimono, disregarding the inappropriateness of his actions.

"She's your daughter! You should be doing everything you can to save her! If you go, you might be able to save her, no matter how slim the chances are! But if you don't, she's really going to die!" He yelled right at her stunned face.

A gnarled hand tapped his arm.

"Oi, lad, I know how you feel, but don't you think you're being a bit too harsh?" Nurarihyon said.

No, not in the slightest.

To get a point through to a thick skull, this much was the minimum.

"…No, he's right, Nurarihyon-dono."

Ichigo turned to look at the older Kyuubi, and was pleased to see the determination in her eyes.

"Kunou is my daughter. I will do anything to protect her, no matter the cost."

"Now, wait a minute…" The leader of the Hyakki Yakou tried to cut in.

"And if my people are endangered by my actions, then I'll fight to the end to protect them as well. I won't choose one over the other."

"Hold on…"

"Nurarihyon-dono, forgive me for my selfishness, but might I ask you to remain here until Shiba-dono, Eden-dono and I return?"

"I said wait, you damn brats! I swear, you'll drive me to the grave!"

Nurarihyon pointed a wrinkled finger at Yasaka.

"Have you already forgotten? You cannot leave Kyoto! The only reason the leylines beneath the city have remained stable despite humanity's unconstrained destruction of nature is because you are here regulating them! Do you know what will happen if you left for too long, or worse, died!? Do you want the entire city and this realm to go up in flames!?"

Yasaka's eyebrows shot upwards, as though that thought had just occurred to her.

"Oh."

"Yes, 'Oh', you crazy brat." The elderly Youkai grumbled.

"But, I cannot simply leave Kunou be…"

"Fine, if you're so insistent, then how about I go in your place?"

"Eh!? But, this is a matter for the Kyoto Youkai to handle. I cannot possibly ask you to…"

"It's fine, it's fine. I was already planning to cede leadership of the Hyakki Yakou and the Kanto Youkai to my son within the next few years anyway. If I'm going to go out, I might as well do it with a bang."

"However…"

"Don't worry. In the worst case scenario, I'll claim to have been acting independently. I won't let any blame fall on your faction or mine. And it's the duty of the older generation to protect and nurture the younger generation. I'm just fulfilling that duty."

"…Very well. Then, I leave Kunou to you three. I beg you, please save her."

"Don't worry. We'll bring her home safe and sound. Ready to go then, geezer?" Ichigo asked the diminutive Youkai as he walked out of the throne room.

"Tch, disrespectful brat. I should give you a good beating with the flat side of my blade. But, I suppose that stubbornness of yours is admirable in its own way. Come on then, I can teleport us to the border of Izumo province. But, once we're past it, it won't work. Mount Hiba is pretty far into the barrier, and we don't have any time to waste. How do you propose we get there?"

"You just leave that to me. The question is, are your brittle bones capable of taking it?"

A distance of that level was meaningless before his natural full speed combined with Shunpo.

And unlike most of his techniques, Shunpo did not involve any overt releases of reiatsu, which basically meant that he would be virtually undetectable as long as he was quiet and stayed out of sight.

Getting there in time himself wasn't a problem.

The problem was whether Nurarihyon could withstand that speed if he was going to bring him along.

The leader of the Hyakki Yakou may be a powerful Youkai, but he was obviously way past his prime.

And his speed was nothing to scoff at. At this point, he would have no trouble shattering the sound barrier.

He doubted he would actually need to go that fast when he was near the ritual site, but the point still stood.

Was Nurarihyon capable of surviving the trip?

"Hmph, so that's your concern, huh? Very well."

Power welled up within Nurarihyon before a wave of dark blue reiatsu engulfed him, startling Ichigo for a moment.

"This should be enough to assuage your worries, no?" A younger, deeper and suave voice that definitely did not belong to an old man asked from within the torrent of energy.

The reiatsu cleared, and taking the place of the diminutive leader of the Kanto Youkai was a younger individual, as tall as Ichigo was, with long white and black hair extending backwards from his head.

Their appearances couldn't be any more different, but the feel of his reiatsu assured him that this was indeed Nurarihyon.

"How did you…?"

"It's nothing special, really. Once you reach a certain level of skill in the mystic arts, temporarily reverting your body to its prime becomes possible. That said, this is more strenuous than I make it look, so I can't keep it up for extended periods of time. But, with this, you shouldn't have any more complaints, right?"

"…Heh, try not to throw out your back, old man. Now, let's get going already."

They had a princess to rescue.

* * *

Kuzuha, a Nanabi-no-Kitsune, just a few decades shy of achieving her eighth tail, and the appointed high priestess of the Tamamo-no-Mae loyalists, felt a strong surge of satisfaction and anticipation as she watched her subordinates carefully place the last few remaining reagents on the altar in the specified locations.

It had been a very long time coming.

They had experienced all too many setbacks, the foremost being their decimation at the hands of the Kyuubi Clan and their allies.

This ritual had taken them centuries of research to prepare and perfect, thanks to the destruction of the instructions for already established rituals, further hampered by the need to lay low and avoid the watchful eyes of the two Youkai Factions all over Japan.

It had only been recently that they had been able to gain a foothold in Shimane, thanks to the passive nature of its ruler, that they could take more conspicuous actions.

And it had truly been a pain to acquire the final, key ingredient, a Kyuubi.

But, they would soon bare witness to the fruits of their labour.

Tamamo-no-Mae would return in all her glory and usher them into an age of Youkai supremacy.

They would destroy the two Youkai Factions for their transgressions, oust the outsiders, the irksome Judeo-Christian Faction that had the audacity to defile their homeland with their filthy presence, and deal with the meddlesome Gods of Takamagahara before moving onto the foolish humans of Japan, as was their right as the true rulers of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Just a little more…they were so very close!

"Kuzuha-sama, all of the reagents are in place."

Kuzuha snapped out of her daydream as one of her subordinates, Sayaka, a Rokubi-no-Kitsune, reported dutifully to her.

"Excellent. Everyone, take your places. The ritual will now commence."

Eagerness filled the air as her eight top subordinates took their places at the vertices of the altar while she stood in front of the black torii that marked the entrance to Yomi.

"Let us begin."

As one, the nine Youkai began chanting the incantation for the ritual.

Pale blue balls of fire, Onibi, emerged from each reagent so carefully placed on the altar.

They converged on the tiny Kyuubi at the center, jolting her awake in the process.

"AA…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The screams of a young girl echoed throughout the clearing as the ritual began to take its toll on the sacrifice.

They were music to Kuzuha's ears, the unbridled suffering of the bloodline that had killed their previous leader, her mother.

" _If you wish to blame anyone for your misfortune, child, then blame your foolish mother for birthing you and giving us this long-awaited opportunity."_ She internally sneered even as she chanted the incantation that she had long memorized perfectly.

That was when her senses pinged, causing her vulpine ears to twitch.

Someone had passed through the barrier they had placed around the ritual site to warn them of intruders.

" _Hmph, so they've come to their little princess's rescue, have they? It's too late, the ritual is almost…"_

She didn't have the time to finish that train of thought before her eyes caught a black blur for a brief moment before whatever it was slammed into the altar with resounding force.

A plume of dust and gravel erupted from the spot, the ceaseless screams of the young Kyuubi abruptly stopping, and Kuzuha felt the mystical energies that had been gathering during the ritual dissipate.

White hot anger surged.

"Who dares!?"

That was all she managed to get out before something slammed into her navel with so much force that she was knocked off her feet and sent flying right into the cliff face behind her.

Dazed and wounded, she slumped to the ground, coughing up gobs of blood, her stomach ruptured by the blow.

She barely managed to lift her head, peering through blurry vision to catch sight of not one, but two intruders, easily defeating her subordinates one after the other.

The first she recognized instantly.

That distinctive appearance, the feel of his power, the sheer presence that demanded nothing less than absolute subservience…

That could only be Nurarihyon, returned to his prime, when he was considered the strongest Youkai in existence.

She never would have imagined that the leader of the Hyakki Yakou and the Kanto Youkai would come in person.

She had expected an army, yes, but not the Youkai who was essentially a one man army.

The other, a young man with black hair and brown eyes, wielding a golden western sword emitting incredible radiance in one hand and cradling the tiny Kyuubi in the other, she did not know.

But she could make an educated guess.

She had received reports that the initial capture attempt had been foiled by the interference of an exceptionally strong human and his companion, which had necessitated the unplanned, but unexpectedly successful later attempt by her spies within the usurper's court.

It had blown their cover irreparably, but they had achieved their penultimate objective, which was why she had no qualms about it, but now…

But now…!

The ritual was ruined, the numerous reagents they had painstakingly gathered over the years were now useless, their base of operations had been found, and the two Youkai Factions surely knew what they were up to now and would be on the warpath…!

All because of…!

"It's all because of you…!" She snarled as she raised a shaking hand, conjuring the biggest ball of Foxfire that she could, pouring all of her hatred and bile into it before throwing it at the human who had singlehandedly ruined their ambitions.

The massive ball of blue flames raced towards the human, whose back was turned as he dealt with her subordinates.

She felt exorbitantly gleeful as the distance between them rapidly shrank.

Their plans might have been ruined, but at the very least, she could exact revenge on the one responsible.

And then he whipped around, swinging his sword and unleashing a wave of black energy that tore through the strongest Foxfire she had ever conjured with contemptuous ease before racing towards her.

It was unlike anything she had ever felt, an energy that radiated nothing but deathdeathdeathDeathDeathDeathDEATHDEATHDEATH…!

In that moment, Kuzuha knew true fear.

And in the next, as the energy reached her and shredded into her broken body and the rock wall behind her, she knew nothing but agony.

This time, it was her screams that filled the air.

* * *

"Ah, crap." Ichigo groaned as he realized what he had just done.

He had not meant to use Getsuga Tensho, not even one as half-assed as the one he had just fired.

It had been completely instinctive, his body reacting by itself before he could stop it when he felt danger, and a growing heat, at his back.

"This is pretty bad." He muttered to himself.

Deus Xiphos had constantly warned him since he had arrived in this world to never use any of his powers but God's.

Using the First Light might have caught the undivided attention of the Three Factions and elicited mild interest from others, but his other powers, each one completely foreign to this world, would gain an inordinate amount of scrutiny from every Faction in the world.

That Getsuga, having been used so hastily, wasn't very powerful, only on par with one from his original Shikai, but that was still more than enough reiatsu to be sensed.

" _No, this might still be salvageable. That barrier around the prefecture is preventing energy from leaking out, so I don't think anyone outside has noticed yet."_

Ichigo heaved a sigh of relief at Deus Xiphos' words.

But, they still weren't still quite out of the woods just yet.

There was still the matter of those who were _in_ the barrier.

Like these idiots.

Those who hadn't already been defeated had lost the will to fight after seeing their leader so easily crushed, those who had tried to escape quickly caught by Nurarihyon, and were now just staring at him in wide-eyed fear.

They'd probably blab their mouths off the moment they got out, though a second hand account wasn't quite as bad.

Speaking of which…

He lay Kunou down on the ground and gently tried to rouse her.

"Kunou. Hey, wake up." He called out to her.

He frowned when she didn't respond in the slightest.

Come to think of it…wasn't her breathing a little shallow?

He pressed the back of his palm against her pale skin.

She was clammy, and getting colder by the second.

Now more than a little alarmed, Ichigo shook her harder.

"Hey kid, can you hear me!? Wake up!" He called urgently.

"What's wrong?" Nurarihyon asked.

"I don't know! She's not responding, and she's not looking good!"

"Move aside!"

Nurarihyon knelt down and gently examined Kunou.

His expression grew grimmer and grimmer.

"This isn't good. We got here a little too late, and the ritual was already underway. Most likely, some of her essence, her very being, was torn out of her in the process."

"What does that mean?"

"It means she's dying. Slowly but surely."

Ichigo gritted his teeth, just barely fighting back the urge to punch the ground in frustration.

"Isn't there anything we can do!?"

"…Well, she'll most likely recover if we can return her lost essence back to her, but the problem is…it's probably in Yomi by now. And that place, while housing the souls of the departed, is also home to creatures that even I wouldn't dare to cross. And it's so massive that it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"But, that's the only option we have, right? Then, I'm going. As long as the smallest chance exists, I won't give up."

"…I see. If you're that determined, I won't stop you. You may just have enough power to overcome that place. I'll return to Kyoto with the little princess. We can't stay here for too long. Once you find her essence, you get back to Kyoto too-"

Nurarihyon was cut off when an oppressive reiatsu that screamed of divinity and death, comparable to Sirzechs Lucifer at his full power, bore down on them, crushing the loyalists to the ground and causing the leader of the Kanto Youkai no little inconvenience.

Ichigo quickly stepped in front of the unconscious and weak Kyuubi, shielding her from its effects.

It wasn't enough to match his, but it was enough to be a cause for concern.

"What the hell is that!?"

"Dammit, we're too late! She's already here…!" Nurarihyon said in a strangled voice, looking incredibly nervous.

The source of the reiatsu grew rapidly closer, and when it was practically right on top of them, Ichigo looked up.

Just in time to see a beautiful young woman with long purple hair, set with an elaborate golden headpiece, red eyes and dressed in a ceremonial kimono, descend.

"…Hm, I came in search of a strange power that I had sensed, and who do I find but one of Amaterasu's dogs?"

Nurarihyon immediately prostrated himself as low as he could get in a position of complete reverence.

"Idiot, at least bow! You're standing before Izanami-no-Mikoto-sama!" The Youkai whisper-yelled at him.

Ichigo froze as he processed that information.

Izanami-no-Mikoto, one of the two Creator Gods of Japan, the Primordial Goddess of Creation and Death, sister and wife to Izanagi-no-Mikoto, the Primordial God of Creation and Life.

That was who this was?

But…

"Wait, I thought she was trapped in Yomi."

"She was. And then she became its Queen and didn't have to play by its rules anymore. She left Yomi and entered the human world. Amaterasu-sama permitted her to stay and gave her the entire Shimane prefecture on the condition that she didn't start killing human and stayed within the barrier."

So, she was the reason why Yasaka and Nurarihyon had been so apprehensive about entering Shimane carelessly.

Trespassing into the territory of a Primordial Goddess was pretty stupid, admittedly.

But, right now, his focus was on another piece of information that Nurarihyon had provided him with.

She was effectively the ruler of Shimane?

Then, that meant…

Ichigo felt his anger surge to the surface again.

"I see…! So, you're the one who let these idiots run around freely…!" Ichigo snarled as he brandished Deus Xiphos.

Nurarihyon and the loyalists stared at him in utter disbelief and a good amount of horror.

" _Ichigo, what are you doing?"_ The Sword of God asked him in an incredulous tone.

"Stop, idiot! Shimane might officially be Izanami-sama's territory, but she doesn't have any interest in ruling it and just leaves it to its own devices…"

"That's just as bad! It's because of her neglect that Kunou is…!"

"Kunou? Is that the name of the child lying behind you?" Izanami cut in, her red eyes directed towards the dying Kyuubi.

She stepped towards them, causing him to tighten his grip on Deus Xiphos.

"Peace, young warrior. I simply wish to observe the child's condition." Izanami said, raising a pale, dainty hand in a gesture of non-aggression.

He did not lower his blade in the slightest, having no reason to believe her.

Especially after what she had allowed to happen.

"It seems that you do not trust me. Is my word that I will not harm a child insufficient?"

"You could say that."

"Very well. Then, should I do anything untoward, you may cut me down. Is that enough for you?" She offered.

Ichigo was stunned that she would actually suggest such a thing to begin with.

His grip loosened slightly.

"…Fine. But, I'm watching you."

"Of course."

She glided over and knelt down beside the dying girl, placing a hand on her forehead.

"…I see. A part of her essence has been torn from her. What happened?"

"They happened. Those bastards you let run amok in your territory tried to revive their idol by using her as the sacrifice. She's in this condition because of you." He seethed.

"…"

Izanami said nothing.

She simply raised a hand towards the black torii.

The cave entrance was suddenly filled with a dark mist, and a golden ball of light shot out of it and into the Goddess of Death's waiting hand.

While he was distracted by what had just happened, she pressed against Kunou's chest, melding with her seamlessly.

Immediately, her complexion improved and her breathing stabilized.

"What was that?"

"I recalled her essence that had been cast into Yomi. She will be fine now. I trust that we will have no further issues?" She asked as she rose to her feet.

"Of course, Izanami-sama! We thank you for your benevolence!" Nurarihyon immediately said, almost tripping over his own words.

"No, not yet." He interrupted.

Nurarihyon's face fell in an expression that basically screamed 'Dear God, why me?'.

"Oh? Is there something else?" Izanami asked, not seeming to take any offense despite his irreverence.

"I doubt these idiots here are all of the loyalists remaining. As long as even one of them is still around, they'll eventually try this shit again. We need to take care of the root of the problem right now."

"And what might that be?"

"Tamamo-no-Mae. Allow me to destroy her soul." He declared.

The loyalists looked at him like he had just pissed on their ancestors' graves, and if it weren't for Izanami's presence, he had no doubt that they would be trying to kill him for what they considered to be blasphemy."

"I see. Unfortunately, I cannot do that. All souls within Yomi's domain are under my rule. You may not think kindly of me as a leader, but I will not allow harm to come to them." Izanami said firmly, looking him dead in the eyes.

The loyalists looked beyond relieved.

Until she spoke again.

"However, that's only as long as she abides by Yomi's laws."

"What?"

"By attempting to revive her by using the life of another to take her place in Yomi, Tamamo-no-Mae has broken the most fundamental rule of Yomi. The dead cannot return to the land of the living. Therefore, she is no longer under my protection."

Ichigo wondered if he should be pointing out that Tamamo-no-Mae hadn't actually succeeded in returning from the dead.

Wait…was Izanami using a loophole in a roundabout way to grant them permission?

The Goddess of Death once more raised her hand towards Yomotsu Hirasaka, and from the black mist, another, much larger ball of golden light emerged, hanging in the air.

It slowly coalesced into a humanoid shape.

A bewitching woman with long auburn hair, golden eyes, vulpine ears and nine fox tails behind her appeared in the air.

But even from here, Ichigo could see the pure malice and madness in her eyes.

"Aaaah, how long have I waited for this day? My faithful subjects, I have return-"

Ichigo didn't give her chance to finish whatever silly speech she had prepared.

He raised an open palm in her direction.

" _Deus Xiphos."_

" _I know. Let's do it."_

As he called upon the First Light, Deus Xiphos helped him bring one of God's abilities to the forefront of his mind.

He activated it.

"Ain."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!? WHAT IS THIS!?" The infamous Kyuubi screamed as she began to dissolve into pure white particles.

This was one of God's 3 most famous abilities.

The first was Ain Soph Aur, of course, the Light of Judgement. The foremost of God's offensive capabilities, and one that Ichigo had used before.

The second was Ain Soph, the Light of Absolution. It was the defensive counterpart of Ain Soph Aur, and one he had yet to use.

And the third, the one he was using now, was considered to be the greatest of God's abilities.

Ain, the Light of the Origin.

It made use of primal essence to bring forth Creation.

All Creator Gods had a similar ability.

However, the nature of Ain made it possible to be used in another way.

The Origin, or the Dimensional Gap, was where all of Creation sprang forth from, and it was where all of Creation was fated to return at the end of days.

Ain was the Light of Creation, and at the same time, it was the Light of Destruction.

And just as it could be used to bring forth something from nothing, it could be used to turn something into nothing.

And that was the application of Ain that he was using on Tamamo-no-Mae.

In short, she was being erased from existence.

The loyalists shouted at him, demanding, pleading with him to stop whatever it was he was doing to their idol.

But he would not be deterred.

In order to ensure that this never happened again, he had to erase every last trace of Tamamo-no-Mae's soul from existence.

For a third time, the screams of a Kitsune echoed throughout the clearing.

Until they abruptly stopped, the last of Tamamo-no-Mae vanishing into primordial essence.

The clearing feel eerily silent, the loyalists completely broken by the erasure of their object of worship.

Ichigo turned to Izanami, and finally bowed to her.

"Thank you."

"No need for gratitude. I did not permit this out of kindness. I simply wished to have Amaterasu indebted to me." She replied blandly.

Though he swore he could see just the slightest dusting of red on her cheeks.

She turned around, facing away from them.

"Now begone. Your business here has concluded. I will not tolerate your presence in my territory any longer." She declared firmly.

"Of course, Izanami-sama! Alright kid, no more shenanigans. We're getting out of here!" Nurarihyon said as he pulled Ichigo by the back of his collar.

"Alright already."

He gently scooped Kunou up in his arms.

Looks like they would have to take the long way with her in tow.

There was no way she would be able to survive his ridiculous speed.

And the last thing she needed when she woke up from such a harrowing experience was a face full of wind.

"What about them?" Ichigo asked Nurarihyon, gesturing towards the loyalists.

"Leave them. After what you did to their leader and idol, I doubt they'll be in any condition to try something anytime soon." He replied.

That was probably the best course of action.

Escorting these idiots to the border of the Shimane prefecture was too much of a hassle anyway.

They left the clearing, heading back the way they had come from.

As they did, Ichigo turned to look back at the Ruler of Yomi once more.

Maybe she wasn't as bad as he had initially thought.

* * *

Izanami was completely silent as she contemplated what had just happened.

That display of power that had annihilated Tamamo-no-Mae from existence…

She knew it all too well.

After all, she had a similar ability, one that she had used to help create Japan's landmass.

And she knew that powers of that nature only belonged to Creators.

And yet, she did not recognize that boy.

She knew practically every Creator in existence.

They had all come into existence at around the same time after all. They were essentially her siblings.

But she did not recognize him.

That ability on the other hand was unmistakable.

The ability of Creation that belonged to YHWH.

However, YHWH was dead.

Amaterasu had told her about the missive from the newly allied Three Factions.

And they had no reason to lie. After all, YHWH had basically accounted for most of the Judeo-Christian Faction's power.

So how was it that another Creator God, one she did not recognize, had come to wield YHWH's abilities?

" _She's in this condition because of you."_

Heh, just thinking of that boy made her recall his words.

They had stung, and were more truthful than she cared to admit.

Izanami would never willingly allow a child to come to harm if she could help it.

She was a mother herself after all.

However, it was true that she had known of the loyalists settling in her territory, and had not cared enough to do anything about it.

As long as they did not threaten her personally, she was content to leave them be.

If she had intervened before, then perhaps this wouldn't have happened.

Perhaps…it was time for her to take a more active role in ruling Shimane.

To think a boy's words would have such a strong impact on her.

Perhaps she was getting soft.

But, she was certain.

That boy was going to make things a lot more interesting in the future.

And she couldn't wait.

* * *

Kunou didn't know where she was.

The last thing she recalled was suddenly being pulled out of her bed by one of her mother's attendants while she was asleep.

And then pain. So much pain.

Then, she found herself here, in this cold, dark void, floating without being able to move.

With no way to tell how much time was passing, she felt like she had been here for years, and wondered if she would ever be able to leave.

Then, golden light flashed before her eyes.

And the next thing she knew, she was waking up leaning against a broad back.

"Where…?" She muttered weakly.

"Finally awake, princess?" A gentle voice asked her.

She lifted her head to see that she was being carried piggyback style by her savior.

"You've really caused us a lot of worry, little princess."

She turned to see a Youkai she did not recognize.

But there was only one person who ever called her that.

"Nurarihyon-dono…?"

"In the flesh. How do you feel?"

"…Tired. So tired…"

"Then go ahead and get some more sleep, princess. There's nothing to worry about anymore. The loyalists have been taken care of."

The loyalists…why were they being brought up?

That was when she put 2 and 2 together.

"Ah…"

She had been saved again.

She hadn't actually seen it herself, but she was absolutely certain.

And thus, she could sleep peacefully, on the back of her hero.

* * *

The moment they return to the throne room with Nurarihyon's teleportation, Ichigo sensed something amiss.

He wasn't expecting fanfare or anything

But he had thought there would at least be cries of relief like from Yasaka on Kunou's safe return.

Certainly not the dead silence that consumed the throne room.

Yasaka was at the head of one of two rows on either side of her throne there, leading what were most likely the leaders of the various clans under her command, all prostrating themselves on the floor and looking extremely cowed.

She lifted her head just a little off the floor and caught sight of her daughter, sleeping on his back.

Joy and relief spread across her face, but she did not dare move an inch towards them.

Likely because of the person languishing in what was supposed to be her throne.

An incredibly beautiful woman with long, lustrous white hair, fiery red eyes, dressed in an elaborate and almost provocative red and white kimono with detached sleeves, adorned with professionally crafted regalia.

But her beauty went far beyond what was physical.

There was an incredible radiance about her that enhanced her to an unearthly degree.

Ichigo had no trouble believing that this was possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

However, it wasn't her looks that caught his attention.

It was her reiatsu.

Even as suppressed as it was, he felt like he was standing out in the open on an unbelievably sunny afternoon, his skin just one or two steps away from being scorched.

And there was no mistaking the divinity within.

He was standing before a Goddess.

A noise next to him told him that Nurarihyon too had prostrated himself before her, and if Kunou were awake, she would probably be scrambling to do the same.

The woman smiled as she rose from the throne and strode purposefully towards them.

"Greetings, Shiba Kaien. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Amaterasu, and I thank you for rescuing our Kunou from those heathens."

Ichigo froze completely.

He was standing before the most important God in Shintoism, one he had grown up hearing tales of.

"Yasaka, you may rise." The deity of the sun spoke.

The Kyuubi immediately stood up ramrod straight.

"Come and take your daughter to rest. I'm sure she needs it."

Yasaka rushed forward, gingerly taking Kunou off his hands while whispering her thanks to him.

"Now, all of you, leave the room. I wish to have a word with the hero of the hour."

Without hesitation, all of the Youkai cleared out of the room as fast as they could without looking like they were running away.

"Now then, forgive me for my bluntness, but there is a matter I would like to have clarified here and now."

"And what would that be?" He asked in a steady tone.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Excuse me?"

"I know every child born under the Sun of Japan, Shiba Kaien. Every human, every animal, every Youkai. And yet, I do not know you. You are unquestionably Japanese, and yet I do not recall you ever being born under my sun."

Ichigo's hands clenched.

Was his worst fear coming true?

"And then there's this."

Amaterasu leaned forward and made a show of breathing in the air around him.

"I can smell it on you. Divinity, more potent than any I have ever come across."

She pulled back.

"Yasaka told me of you. A young man who had been involved in the supernatural world until your parents were killed, which prompted you to stay out of all supernatural affairs. At least, that's what you claim. I have no trouble believing that you do not want any involvement, but everything else…And then of course, there's her."

Amaterasu looked at Deus Xiphos, who met her gaze evenly.

"It has been a very long time, but I know who she is. The Sword of God, Deus Xiphos. And here I thought she had been lost with YHWH. And if she is with you, that can only mean one thing."

She looked him in the eyes and smiled.

"I wonder if Heaven is aware that their fallen God has a successor."

"…"

Ichigo remained silent.

He wasn't sure he could trust himself to speak right now.

"Still have nothing to say? Very well. I am a magnanimous God. You do not have to tell me anything else, as long as you tell me just one thing."

"Which is?" He barely got out.

"What is your name?"

"Shiba Kaien." He promptly replied.

"No no, I don't have any interest in that little alias you crafted for yourself. I want to hear your True Name."

Ichigo glared at her, hatred smouldering in his eyes.

She was basically asking him to out himself right here and now.

But, it didn't seem that he had a choice in the matter.

She didn't look like she was willing to let him go without hearing it first, and if they fought, he had no doubt that this realm and its innocent inhabitants would be destroyed.

He took a moment to collect himself before speaking.

" **Kurosaki Ichigo."**

And the air thrummed with an unseen force as his body glowed with power.

To speak the True Name of a God was to invoke their power.

The reason why the world did not constantly shake with power from the constant invocation of the names of many Gods was because what those were not their True Names.

Zeus, Odin, Ra, Amaterasu. Those were the names that the world knew them by, and what they took to calling themselves.

But their True Name was something else, something only they themselves would know.

And when Ichigo was made a God, the name he was born with became his True Name.

Knowing a God's True Name was no really that big of a deal.

It wasn't like it gave anyone else power over them.

But, for Ichigo, who wished to live as a human, having his True Name exposed was disastrous.

That was why he had been living under the name of his deceased cousin.

If Amaterasu were to spread his True Name, any chance of normalcy was forever out the window.

The Goddess of the Sun looked satisfied.

"Well then, **Kurosaki Ichigo**. Once again, you have my gratitude for saving little Kunou. And I do apologize for forcing you into such an uncomfortable position. Rest assured, I am not such a crass woman that I would tell anyone else of your True Name or your true nature. If you wish to stay out of our world, then I will respect your wishes. Consider it your reward for your heroic deeds."

Amaterasu stepped back as a magic circle appeared beneath her, likely to return her to Takamagahara,

Ichigo took that as his cue to leave, and he did so, sharply turning on his heels and marching out of the room, trying his best to keep his anger under control.

He really had enough for one day.

* * *

"Do you really have to go?"

Ichigo smiled patiently as Kunou pouted at him.

His and Deus Xiphos' not-so-relaxing vacation in Kyoto came to an end, and the Kyuubi mother and child had come to see them off at the train station, in their human guises, of course.

"Yes, princess. I do. But hey, I'll come back sometime, alright? And I'll treat you to tofu."

Kunou smiled brightly.

"And I'll take you on a proper tour of Kyoto! Pinky swear!" She said as she lifted her little finger up.

He humoured her by wrapping his around it.

"It's a promise."

He stood back up and faced Yasaka, who smiled at him.

"I really can't thank you enough for what you've done, Shiba-dono. Know that the Kyoto Youkai are forever indebted to you."

"It's fine, really. I just did what I felt was right."

"Yes, I suppose you did. There is a lot our world can learn from you. Goodbye for now, Shiba-dono."

He and Deus Xiphos waved to them as they boarded the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.

Only when the pair were out of sight did they stop.

And they immediately fell into an awkward silence.

"I really am sorry. I didn't think my little prank would escalate into this. And now…"

"It's fine. We saved the kid, so it all balances out. But…if it had been possible, I wish I could have prevented her from experiencing all of that."

Kunou had not shown any signs, but there was no way a child could have gone through such a terrible incident without experiencing some trauma.

Yasaka was going to have her hands dealing with it soon.

If only he had seen it coming, then maybe…

"…Maria, when summer vacation is over, I'm going to start training." He told her.

He still had no intention of getting actively involved, but that didn't mean that he would just allow something like this to just happen if he could stop it.

That was what it meant to be a decent person.

Deus Xiphos nodded silently, accepting his decision without question.

"But first, let's try to pass the rest of the holiday in peace."

Now, was there any place on Earth that wasn't swarming with supernatural activity?

* * *

Wow, this chapter turned out way longer than I thought.

Man, this took a while.

The first week and a half was hell. I got a bad case of writer's fatigue where I knew what I wanted to write but just couldn't find the motivation to actually type it out.

And then after that, I got really distracted by Nioh Complete Edition.

It was really fun being a British Samurai in Feudal Japan, and I think I'm only about halfway through the main story.

Anyway, the Youkai Factions are introduced early, along with Izanami and Amaterasu, all of whom will likely play a role in future chapters.

Now, I decided where Ichigo will be heading off for the next 2 chapters.

The British Isles.

First to Scotland/Ireland where he'll meet a certain Godslayer, and then Cornwall where he'll come across the Magus of Flowers.

That said, I still need to plan an actual storyline for Scathach and Merlin, and not just haphazardly throw them into the story.

Merlin's story will probably involve the Pendragons, but I'm not sure about Scathach.

I hope I can get these done by the end of July before I resume my studies and go back on hiatus.

Anyway, that's all for now.

As always, please read and review.


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